Professor Martha Davis Co-Edits New Book on Human Rights and Local Economies

12.02.2025 —Professor Martha Davis, faculty co-director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Global Law and Justice, is a co-editor of Human Rights Economies and Subnational Governance (Routledge, 2025), available for pre-order with a December 22 release date.

As cities and subnational regions gain increasing economic and political power, this interdisciplinary volume examines how local governments can ground their economic policies in human rights principles and obligations. The book explores the opportunities and challenges of promoting economic justice and prosperity at the local level, proposing ways that municipal and regional policies can respect, protect and fulfill human rights with positive ripple effects nationally and globally.

“Human rights efforts often focus on nation states, but local implementation is critical. This book provides a road map for local governments, advocates, and scholars working to more fully integrate human rights at the local and community level,” said Davis, whose previous books include COVID-19 and Human Rights; Global Urban Justice: The Rise of Human Rights Cities; Human Rights Advocacy in the United States; Bringing Human Rights Home; and Brutal Need: Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement.

Davis co-edited the volume with Savitri Bisnath, former senior director of global policy at the Institute of Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School, and Morten Kjaerum, adjunct professor at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, and affiliated scholar at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lund, Sweden.

The book is designed for scholars, students and practitioners in human rights, economics, law, development and urban studies, as well as professionals and policymakers involved in local economic development planning and the implementation of human rights norms.

Davis is also an affiliated scholar at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden.