Kathryn Sikkink

International Norm Dynamics and Political Change

Norms have never been absent from the study of international politics, but the sweeping “ideational turn” in the 1980s and 1990s brought them back as a central theoretical concern in the field. Much theorizing about norms has focused on how they create social structure, standards of appropriateness, and stability in international politics. Recent empirical research on norms, in contrast, has examined their role in creating political change, but change processes have been less well-theorized. We induce from this research a variety of theoretical arguments and testable hypotheses about the role of norms in political change. We argue that norms evolve in a three-stage “life cycle” of emergence, “norm cascades,” and internalization, and that each stage is governed by different motives, mechanisms, and behavioral logics. We also highlight the rational and strategic nature of many social construction processes and argue that theoretical progress will only be made by placing attention on the connections between norms and rationality rather than by opposing the two.

The power of human rights : international norms and domestic change

List of contributors Preface 1. The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices: introduction Thomas Risse and Kathryn Sikkink 2. Transnational activism and political change in Kenya and Uganda Hans Peter Schmitz 3. The long and winding road: international norms and domestic political change in South Africa David Black 4. Changing discourse: transnational advocacy networks in Tunisia and Morocco Sieglinde Granzer 5. Linking the unlinkable? International norms and nationalism in Indonesia and the Philippines Anja Jetschke 6. International norms and domestic politics in Chile and Guatemala Stephen C. Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink 7. The Helsinki accords and political change in Eastern Europe Daniel C. Thomas 8. International human rights norms and domestic change: conclusions Thomas Risse and Stephen C. Ropp List of references Index.

The Power of Human Rights: The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices: introduction

Fifty years ago, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). At the time, the delegates clearly noted that the Declaration was not a binding treaty, but rather a statement of principles. Eleanor Roosevelt said that the Declaration “set up a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations,” and “might well become an international Magna Carta of all mankind” (Humphrey 1984). On the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration, it seems appropriate to evaluate the impact of these norms, now embodied in diverse international agreements and treaties. Have the principles articulated in the Declaration had any effect at all on the actual behavior of states towards their citizens? What are the conditions under which international human rights norms are internalized in domestic practices? In other words, what accounts for the variation in the degree to which human rights norms are implemented? And what can we learn from this case about why, how, and under what conditions international norms in general influence the actions of states? This book tries to tackle these questions. Our project relates to broader theoretical debates in the social sciences and law about the influence of ideas and norms on the behavior of individuals and states. Scholars of international relations are increasingly interested in studying norms and ideas, but few have yet demonstrated the actual impact that international norms can have on domestic politics. Using case studies that explore the linkages between international human rights norms and changing human rights practices, we develop and present a theory of the stages and mechanisms through which international norms can lead to changes in behavior.

Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics

of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, 338 Mergenthaler Hall, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA, email: mkeckKjhu.edu She is author of The Workers’ Party and Democratisation in Brazil (1992) and PT: A Logica da Diferenca (in Portuguese) (1991). Kathryn Sikkink is Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota, 1414 Social Science, 267 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA, email: KsikkinkKpolisci.umn.edu She is author of Ideas and Institutions: Developmentalism in Brazil and Argentina (1991). Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics*

Human rights, principled issue-networks, and sovereignty in Latin America

International relations theorists have devoted insufficient attention to the processes through which state sovereignty is being transformed in the modern world. The human rights issue offers a case study of a gradual and significant reconceptualization of state sovereignty. In the human rights issue-area, the primary movers behind the international actions leading to changing understandings of sovereignty are transnational nonstate actors organized in a principled issue-network, including international and domestic nongovernmental organizations, parts of global and regional intergovernmental organizations, and private foundations. These networks differ from other forms of transnational relations in that they are driven primarily by shared values or principled ideas. Through a comparative study of the impact of international human rights pressures on Argentina and Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s, this article explores the emergence and the nature of the principled human rights issue-network and the conditions under which it can contribute to changing both state understandings about sovereignty and state human rights practices.

International Human Rights Law and Practice in Latin America

Human rights practices have improved significantly throughout Latin America during the 1990s, but different degrees of legalization are not the main explanation for these changes. We examine state compliance with three primary norms of international human rights law: the prohibition against torture, the prohibition against disappearance, and the right to democratic governance. Although these norms vary in their degree of obligation, precision, and delegation, states have improved their practices in all three issue-areas. The least amount of change has occurred in the most highly legalized issue-area—the prohibition against torture. We argue that a broad regional norm shift—a “norms cascade”—has led to increased regional and international consensus with respect to an interconnected bundle of human rights norms, including the three discussed in this article. These norms are reinforced by diverse legal and political enforcement mechanisms that help to implement and ensure compliance with them.

Codes of conduct for transnational corporations: the case of the WHO/UNICEF code

The WHO/UNICEF International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes was passed by the 1981 World Health Assembly. Subsequent arrangements between the Nestle Corporation and its nongovernmental critics for the implementation of the code indicate what is possible within the normative framework of an emerging regime on investment and transnational corporations. In the baby food case the context was particularly positive. A high level of consensual knowledge, the successful strategies of nongovernmental organizations, the susceptibility of the involved industries to pressure, the brevity of deliberations, and the conducive atmosphere of the international organization setting all helped negotiators to develop a detailed code of marketing. Actions inside and outside the UN system combined to delegitimize commonly accepted practices, modify global marketing schemes, and alter national health care practices. In other issue-areas, however, such as Pharmaceuticals, the same positive convergence of factors does not yet exist, and the achievement of equally precise codes will be more difficult.

Transnational Politics, International Relations Theory, and Human Rights

century presents a puzzle for students of comparative politics and international relations. Many of our dominant theories-realism, rational choice, and economic interest group theories-have trouble accounting for the rise of human rights politics except to dismiss them as marginal, insignificant, or an ideological cover beneath which economic groups or hegemonic countries pursue their interests. But as the other essays here and the daily newspapers make abundantly clear, human rights issues are not marginal, and increasingly detailed policy and institutional mechanisms exist to ensure the implementation of international human rights standards. In some cases, these policies can have a direct impact on human rights practices, and have contributed to reduced repression and regime changes (see Sikkink 1993; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink forthcoming).

The Transnational Dimension of the Judicialization of Politics in Latin America

Current trends toward the judicialization of politics in Latin America are deeply embedded in a context of regional and international legalization. In this chapter I argue that one cannot fully understand the domestic judicialization of politics in most Latin American countries without taking this regional and international context into account. For example, to understand outcomes in the area of the judicialization of human rights politics in many countries in Latin America, we also need to be attentive to developments in international and regional human rights law, as well as the role of transnational advocacy groups. Borrowing a concept from social movement theory, I believe that to understand the current level of judicialization of human rights policy in Latin America, it is necessary to situate it within its relevant international and domestic political and legal opportunity structure.

Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics

In Activists beyond Borders, Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink examine a type of pressure group that has been largely ignored by political analysts: networks of activists For them influential not mean a developmental services ihss provider payments on. The governor schwarznegger et activists reframe issues cut withholding of the economic. Click on health care services through june 2010. They attract the actual loss of human rights fidh. Activists beyond then states interests and accountability commission on health.