Western normative assumptions frequently dominate the human rights discourse, creating an unnecessarily divisive environment. Two factors account for this: First, Westerners have come to believe that their understanding of human rights—a product of their own histories (notably the Enlightenment and the rights revolution) and notions about natural rights—represents the obligations laid down in human rights treaties. Second, Westerners play an extraordinarily large role as funders and conveners of human rights organizations and scholarly debates, directly and indirectly shaping agendas, frameworks of analysis, and evaluation methods in the process. The result is that most human rights campaigners believe that all states parties to human rights treaties have committed themselves to the Western view on human rights. This approach risks liberal monism, as it converts cultural norms in one part of the world into universal rights. Working with this singular worldview, human rights actors and scholars often view alternative ways of living—and of achieving a good and just society—as inferior or backward.