The Cynic’s Guide to Compliance: A Constructivist Theory of the Contestation Threshold in Human Rights

Theoretical Foundations for Human Rights

Political Studies ◽

10.1177/0032321717723510 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 66 (3) ◽

pp. 601-617 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Vittorio Bufacchi

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Natural Law ◽

Innovative Approach ◽

Constructivist Theory ◽

Political Practice ◽

Human Rights Practice ◽

Theoretical Foundations ◽

Deflationary Theory

This article explores an alternative to the established dichotomy between philosophical (natural law) accounts of human rights, characterized by a foundationalist tendency, and political (practice-based) accounts of human rights, which aspire to be non-foundationalist. I argue that in order to justify human rights practice, political accounts of human rights cannot do without the support of theoretical foundations, although not necessarily of the natural-law variety. As an alternative to natural-law metaphysics, a deflationary theory of human rights, based on a deflationary account of truth, is put forward. Starting from a distinction between ‘extreme’ and ‘moderate’ forms of deflationism, this article defends a constructivist theory of human rights grounded on the Humean notion of conventionalism. This innovative approach to human rights provides political conceptions of human rights with the foundations (or quasi-foundations) they need, but are currently lacking.

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The hidden impacts of the ICC: An innovative assessment using Google data

Leiden Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/s0922156521000194 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Geoffrey Thomas Dancy

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Criminal Law ◽

International Criminal ◽

Criminal Court ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

International Criminal Law ◽

Constructivist Theory ◽

Performance Reviews ◽

Pedagogical Function ◽

Rational Evaluation

Abstract Commentators now regularly declare that the International Criminal court (ICC) – and international criminal law as a whole – is in crisis. It is certainly the case that the ICC faces a number of operational challenges, and that these challenges worry its defenders. However, one unexamined rationalist assumption is that the Court’s inability to deliver consistent outputs will mean waning influence. This article explores an alternative constructivist theory that the ICC produces diffuse social impacts that are not necessarily tied to its operating effectively. This theory is tested statistically using Google Trends data. Specifically, the article examines whether ICC intervention in a country is associated with more internet search for ‘human rights’. Taking this to be a measure of changing discourse in countries, the article finds that some types of ICC involvement are associated with a far higher interest in human rights, and that this interest only increases as ICC involvement extends in time. In short, despite its disappointments, evidence suggests that the ICC still serves a socio-pedagogical function. Though it does not fit well within a rational evaluation framework, this kind of information should be considered in ICC performance reviews.

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Global civil society and international ethics: Mervyn Frost's restatement of constitutive theory

Review of International Studies ◽

10.1017/s026021050000485x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 485-489

Author(s):

PETER SUTCH

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Civil Society ◽

International Relations ◽

Global Civil Society ◽

Constitutive Theory ◽

Constructivist Theory ◽

International Ethics ◽

The Core ◽

International Theory ◽

Oriented Approach

Mervyn Frost's restatement of his constitutive theory of international relations raises a number of crucial points which need elaboration and discussion. Discussing the issues under the key headings used by Frost in his reply to my ‘Human Rights as Settled Norms’, I wish to focus on the following claim which I take to be central to the development of any norm-oriented approach to political and international theory. The claim is simply this; we are required, as a necessary component of post-positivist and constructivist theory, to take account of ethical and political inequalities in the development of any series of ‘settled norms’ that constitute the prevailing domain of discourse. This claim, I believe, accurately captures the core concerns of my earlier article and informs those tensions that remain to be discussed here.

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