A Civil Religion for World Society: The Direct and Diffuse Effects of Human Rights Treaties, 1981–2007¹

Abstract

Much research has concluded that human rights treaties have a null or negative effect on governments' human rights practices. This article reexamines the influence of human rights treaties, with a focus on two kinds of treaty effects: direct-the effect of treaties on the countries that ratified them; and diffuse-the effect of treaties on countries regardless of ratification. My analysis of two prominent human rights treaties finds that they often reduce levels of repression and abuse over time and independently of ratification. Some of these effects are nonlinear, reversing direction as time elapses or as more countries become party to the treaties. These findings are interpreted with reference to world polity institutionalism in sociology, and especially the ''Durkheimian'' strains of this approach. Human rights norms as embodied in treaties operate as a kind of civil religion for world society. These norms not only have long-term direct effects among countries that ritualistically ratify human rights treaties, but they also diffusely impact countries irrespective of formal endorsement.

A Tale of Two Trends: Democracy and Human Rights, 1981–2010

“…However, some research suggests that ratification of human rights treaties may not improve human rights practices (Hathaway 2002) and that it may even have the opposite effect, negatively affecting a state's human rights record by providing a shield for states that wish to become more repressive (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005;Hathaway 2002). Other studies suggest that ratifying human rights instruments may contribute to better human rights practices, but that the relationship is indirect and/or nonlinear (Cole 2012a) or conditional on state characteristics (Hathaway 2002) or on the strength of the treaty commitment (Cole 2012b). Moreover, these conditional relationships may not even extend to repressor states where reform is needed the most (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2007).…”

“…Moreover, previous studies consistently show that democracy positively affects human rights practices (Hafner-Burton 2005;Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005;R. Clark 2010;Greenhill 2010;Cole 2012aCole , 2012bCole and Ramirez 2013), suggesting that the two are closely associated and have emerged alongside one another.…”

“…To be sure, human rights principles have proliferated across the world in recent years (Pegram 2010), and past studies find that IGOs (Greenhill 2010) andINGOs (HafnerBurton andTsutsui 2005;Powell and Staton 2009) positively affect a country's human rights record. However, more recent studies suggest that international organizations may not play a significant role (R. Clark 2010;Cole 2012aCole , 2012bCole and Ramirez 2013). Alternatively, participation in international treaties may commit countries to upholding human rights standards.…”

“…Clark 2010;Cole 2012a). However, these reported trends are rarely central to the main analyses and are merely intended for illustrative purposes and/or to motivate other research questions.…”

Globalization and Collective Labor Rights

“…Some types of trade, for example, have a large degree of cultural relevance (Blanton ). Forms of political globalization, such as human rights treaties, can eventually become part of the global “social ether” (Drori and Krucken :19), independent of the formal endorsement of the treaty itself (Cole ). Conversely, global norms can be related to facets of political globalization such as treaty ratification (Wotipka and Tsutsui ).…”