The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence, and Sex Trafficking. By Sally Engle Merry. Chicago and London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2016. 249 pp. $25.00 paperback.

• Published date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12273
• Date: 01 June 2017

ensuring that federal constitutional guarantees are met. In the case of

elections, the drastically different conditions under which citizens in

the same state exercise a fundamental right raises serious constitu-

tional concerns. And unlike many other fundamental rights, the right

to vote is one that cannot be exercised at all outside the framework of

state implementation.

Amar’s picture of the constitution and constitutionalism is a bit

optimistic for this political scientist’s taste. While he acknowledges

real concerns about the constitution and its contemporary opera-

tion, his celebration of figures like Lincoln and Anthony Kennedy

betray a deep faith in the ultimate triumph of egalitarianism, pro-

gressive development, rights as bulwarks against state oppression,

and the fundamental goodness of the American constitutional mis-

sion. In the wake of a successful presidential electoral campaign

based in division, xenophobia, race-baiting, and misogyny, and in

surveying the rise and success of right-wing political movements

abroad, I am not so sanguine about the continued triumph of liber-

alism or even that liberalism is a sufficiently strong, cohesive, or pro-

tective ideology. Amar’s last substantive chapter, however, suggests

that states and localities can function as reservoirs for creative and

assertive paths to protect and preserve fundamental rights if things

go ill. I accept his invitation to consider the possibilities here and

encourage others to do so as well.

Reference

Brennan Center (2016) “Voting Problems Present in 2016, But Further Study Needed

to Determine Impact.” Available at http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voting-

problems-present-2016-further-study-needed-determine-impact. Accessed March

28, 2017.

***

The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender

Violence, and Sex Trafficking. By Sally Engle Merry. Chicago

and London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2016. 249 pp. $25.00

paperback.

Reviewed by Nicola Henry, School of Global and Urban Studies

RMIT University

As the saying goes, numbers do not lie. Yet numbers do not tell the

whole truth, and nor are they immune to the inequalities of power.

In this fascinating book, Sally Merry seeks to critically explore the

Book Reviews 459