Making Sense of Human Rights Commitments: A Study of Two Emerging European Democracies

Hubert Smekal, Katarína Šipulová, Ivo Pospíšil, Jozef Janovský

• Publisher: Masarykova univerzita
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9788021084353
• eBook ISBN:
  9788021086852
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Public Law
• Index: Law

What motivates states to commit to international human rights treaties remains a contested question in political and legal science. Many tentative explanations for the observed variation in ratification patterns have been proposed. Some are based on the content of the treaties (the substance of the protected rights and the control mechanisms), others are tied to external factors (having originated either from pressure of the international community or within the domestic political system). In any case, empirical evidence supporting the proposed hypotheses remains rather scarce and overall knowledge about the reasons for signing and ratifying treaties is inconclusive. We aim to contribute to the scholarly discussion by providing a new and thorough examination of the commitment practices in two post-communist countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and also in their common predecessors, the undemocratic illiberal Czechoslovakia and then the transitioning Czechoslovak Federation. While both new countries have experienced very similar international development that is propelled by the same international incentives and constraints, their internal political experience differs significantly. It is those differences which make these countries promising and productive 'laboratories' for investigation.

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• I. GENERAL TRENDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENTS
• 2 What We Know about Adopting International Human Rights Commitments
• 3 Political Regimes and Commitment Patterns
• II. CASE STUDY
• 4 Human Rights Commitments in Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic and Slovakia – Background Information
• 5 Treaty Control Mechanism, Legitimacy and Domestic Change
• 6 Commitment Decisions: Differences between Leftist and Rightist Governments
• 7 Moderating the Commitment Decision with Reservations: Explaining What Is Missing in Commitment Patterns
• 8 Who and What Impacts the Processof A dopting Human Rights Commitments? Veto Players and International Human Rights Commitments
• III. INDIRECT INFLUENCES (MICRO-LEVEL ANALYSIS)
• 9 Human Rights Treaties before Constitutional Courts: Identical Starting Points, Slightly Different Outcomes
• 10 International Human Rights Treaties in the Case Lawof Domestic Courts: Supreme Courtand Supreme Administrative Court
• 11 International Human Rights Lawin Legal Education
• 12 Conclusion
• About the Authors
• Bibliography
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Index
• ANNEX 1: List of Treaties
• ANNEX 2: Ranking of the United Nations Member States and Their Commitment Practice
• ANNEX 3: Ranking of the Council of Europe Member States and Their Commitment Practice