Anti-Effectiveness and Potency in the Residue of Power: Reflecting on an Overlooked International Human Rights Agreement

This article contributes a set of concepts to the study of international human rights agreement-making: anti-effectiveness and potency in the residue of power. It suggests that an agreement is anti-effective insofar as its text cannot be either effective or ineffective. I show that the 1985 United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who are Not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live (DHRN) is anti-effective. Nonetheless, there is power associated with it. Interrogating the story of the DHRN, this article suggests that it can be seen as what will be called a residue of power, and identifies potency within it. This potency is neither centred around nor located in the final text, but is found behind the scenes of the text. I identify three dimensions to this potency, though there may well be more: potency-in-power-politics, potency-in-ideas, and potency-in-momentum.