The Proliferation Of International Human Rights - 3542 Words

The proliferation of international human rights treaties and jurisprudence gives rise to new questions about the efficacy of international human rights law (IHRL) in the promotion of domestic human rights practices. Scholars have long been skeptical of the effectiveness of human rights treaties given the absence of clear mechanisms of enforcement (Goldsmith and Posner 2005; Downs, Rocke, and Barsoom 1996). States may commit to human rights treaties for a variety of strategic or normative reasons (Simmons 2009; Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999), but the extent to which such commitments actually lead to changes in states’ practices remains underexplored. Recent scholarship confirms that human rights treaties can†¦show more content†¦Yet this body of research remains incomplete. Previous scholarship focuses on the relationship between treaty ratification and rights outcomes, but this emphasis on the relationship between ratification and compl iance obfuscates a more dynamic, complex, and nuanced understanding of the interaction of law and politics. Indeed, we know that even inadvertent commitments to human rights treaties can have powerful and sometimes unintended effects (Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999). Questions remain with regard to the factors affecting the degree to which legal action shapes the behavior of governments: who engages in mobilization, when do these actors generate social and legal mobilization, and how do the scope and strategies of these movements affect domestic human rights practices? The question at the heart of this dissertation is: Why does an international human rights framework impact the domestic political efficacy of rights-based mobilization in some cases and not in others? The number of international human rights conventions and tribunals has increased dramatically since World War II. This human rights regime now reflects a complex web of rules, norms, and institutions that attempt to structure the behavior of states vis-aÌ€-vis citizens. I seek to explain the conditions under which international human rights law affects the promotion of rights claims in democratizing states and the mechanisms by which