Transmitting Rights: International Organizations and the Diffusion of Human Rights Practices
Brian Greenhill
Abstract
This book advances the discussion of the role of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) in international politics by encouraging us to move beyond the relatively narrow—albeit very important—discussions of the efficacy of individual organizations. It offers a more sociological perspective that conceives of IGOs as constituting a tightly woven fabric of ties between states. The central finding to emerge from the empirical chapters is that states’ human rights practices tend to become more similar to those of their fellow IGO member states over time, whether for better or worse. In doing so, it ... More
This book advances the discussion of the role of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) in international politics by encouraging us to move beyond the relatively narrow—albeit very important—discussions of the efficacy of individual organizations. It offers a more sociological perspective that conceives of IGOs as constituting a tightly woven fabric of ties between states. The central finding to emerge from the empirical chapters is that states’ human rights practices tend to become more similar to those of their fellow IGO member states over time, whether for better or worse. In doing so, it argues that these results are most consistent with a mechanism of norm transmission that depends upon socialization, or acculturation. Finding evidence of this convergence effect challenges us to think differently about the consequences that IGO membership has for states. More importantly, though, the results suggest that IGO-based convergence can take place even among IGOs that have no obvious connection to human rights issues. These findings have important implications not just for the politics of human rights, but also for how we think about the role played by IGOs in the international system. Adopting a network perspective on IGOs allows us to identify some of the additional opportunities they provide for states to influence one another over a wide range of social and political issues.
Keywords:
intergovernmental organizations,
human rights,
diffusion,
international norms,
IGOs,
international institutions,
socialization,
networks,
convergence,
acculturation
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190271633 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190271633.001.0001 |
