Civil Rights, Sociology, Canadian, United States, Civil Rights & Liberties, Law, Government, Comparative Study 

"It is well known that the scope of individual rights has expanded dramatically in the United States over the last half-century. Less well known is that other countries have experienced "rights revolutions" as well. Charles R. Epp argues that, far from being the fruit of an activist judiciary, the ascendancy of civil rights and liberties has rested on the democratization of access to the courts—the influence of advocacy groups, the establishment of governmental enforcement agencies, the growth of financial and legal resources for ordinary citizens, and the strategic planning of grass roots organizations. In other words, the shift in the rights of individuals is best understood as a "bottom up," rather than a "top down," phenomenon.

The Rights Revolution is the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the growth of civil rights, examining the high courts of the United States, Britain, Canada, and India within their specific constitutional and cultural contexts. It brilliantly revises our understanding of the relationship between courts and social change" - Amazon 

Content:
Introduction -- The conditions for the rights revolution : theory -- The United States : standard explanations for the rights revolution -- The support structure and the U.S. rights revolution -- India : an ideal environment for a rights revolution? -- India's weak rights revolution and its handicap -- Britain : an inhospitable environment for a rights revolution? -- Britain's modest rights revolution and its sources -- Canada : a great experiment in constitutional engineering -- Canada's dramatic rights revolution and its sources -- Conclusion : constitutionalism, judicial power, and rights -- Appendix: Selected constitutional or quasi-constitutional rights provisions for the United States, India, Britain, and Canada. 

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-305) and index.