The (Dis)integrative Potential of Rights

European integration studies conventionally focus on the relationship between the European Union and its Member States. RIGHTS-TO-UNITE (RTU) shifts this focus from the integration of people’s states to the integration of states' peoples. This paper is informed by the question “Can (EU-derived) rights unite, or are they bound to divide?” It explores rights as mediums through which individuals organize their place in society across all its components, spanning economic, social, and even digital spheres, drawing on literature across law, philosophy, political science, and sociology, among others. We conceptualize rights as inherently interactive, with a right-holder relating to one or multiple duty-holder(s). The lived experience of rights is characterised by complexity of sources, content, and nature. Rights extend beyond legal obligations, shaping culture and informal institutions in ways that can make them even more real than through right-claiming through judicial and quasi-judicial institutions. This working paper builds on an extensive critical literature review to propose an initial framework of societal integration through rights. It innovates by accounting for the possibility of disintegration through rights, identifying potential points of failure in a rights-based framework for integration. Going beyond traditional public law/private law divides, and accounting for the substantial diversity of economic, social and digital EU-derived rights, this first RTU Working Paper contributes to a new theoretical framework to evaluate successes, failures, and crises of integration through rights on the ground.