Socializing States: Promoting Human Rights through International Law

by Ryan Goodman, Derek Jinks

Overview

The role of international law in global politics is as poorly understood as it is important. But how can the international legal regime encourage states to respect human rights? Given that international law lacks a centralized enforcement mechanism, it is not obvious how this law matters at all, and how it might change the behavior or preferences of state actors. In Socializing States, Ryan Goodman and Derek Jinks contend that what is needed is a greater emphasis on the mechanisms of law's social influence—and the micro-processes that drive each mechanism. Such an emphasis would make clearer the micro-foundations of international law. This book argues for a greater specification and a more comprehensive inventory of how international law influences relevant actors to improve human rights conditions. Substantial empirical evidence suggests three conceptually distinct mechanisms whereby states and institutions might influence the behavior of other states: material inducement, persuasion, and what Goodman and Jinks call acculturation. The latter includes social and cognitive forces such as mimicry, status maximization, prestige, and identification. The book argues that (1) acculturation is a conceptually distinct, empirically documented social process through which state behavior is influenced; and (2) acculturation-based approaches might occasion a rethinking of fundamental regime design problems in human rights law. This exercise not only allows for reexamination of policy debates in human rights law; it also provides a conceptual framework for assessing the costs and benefits of various design principles.

While acculturation is not necessarily the most important or most desirable approach to promoting human rights, a better understanding of all three mechanisms is a necessary first step in the development of an integrated theory of international law's influence. Socializing States provides the critical framework to improve our understanding of how norms operate in international society, and thereby improve the capacity of global and domestic institutions to build cultures of human rights,

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199301003
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/11/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

RG: Professor of Law, New York University
DJ: Professor of Law, University of Texas

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction: Rethinking State Socialization and International Human Rights Law
A. The Empirical Study of International Law
B. Objectives of the Project
C. Theorizing State Socialization
D. Advancing the Understanding of State Socialization
E. Outline of the Book

PART I. A THEORY OF INFLUENCE

Chapter 2. Three Mechanisms of Social Influence
A. Material inducement
B. Persuasion
C. Acculturation
1. Acculturation as Incomplete Internalization: Distinguishing Persuasion
2. Acculturation as Social Sanctions and Rewards: Distinguishing Material Inducement
D. Illustration: Mechanisms of Influence in The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy

Chapter 3. Acculturation of States: The Theoretical Model
A. Socialization of the State
B. Acculturation and the Patterns of State Practice
1. Isomorphism across states
2. Decoupling within states
3. Global integration correlation
4. Social networks correlation
5. Institutionalization correlation
6. Contagion effects: adoption by other states is a predictor of subsequent adoption
7. Lack of correlation with geopolitical vulnerability or with powerful states' interests
8. Discerning the Process of Micro-Acculturation: Qualitative analysis and case studies
Chapter 4. Acculturation of States: The Empirical Record
A. Studies Outside of Human Rights
1. Environmental policy and public education
2. Network effects
B. Human rights studies
1. Constitutional design
2. Substantive rights protections: Children's rights and women's rights
3. Network effects and human rights
4. Regional/"neighborhood" effects: Simmons' Mobilizing for Human Rights
C. Objections and Clarifications
1. Does our account assume acculturation spreads desirable laws and policies?
2. Could material inducements provide an equally plausible explanation of the observed behavior?
3. Is global-level acculturation driven by hegemonic interests?

PART II. APPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS REGIME DESIGN

Chapter 5. Conditional Membership: Socialization and the Community Delimitation
A. Material inducement
B. Persuasion
C. Acculturation

Chapter 6. Precision of Legal Obligations: Socialization and Rule-making
A. Material inducement
B. Persuasion
C. Acculturation

Chapter 7. Monitoring and Enforcement: Socialization and Rule-breakers
A. Material inducement
B. Persuasion
C. Acculturation

PART III. PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF STATE SOCIALIZATION

Chapter 8. State Acculturation and the Problem of Compliance
A. Acculturation without Decoupling
B. Acculturation with "Benign" or "Facilitative" Decoupling
C. Decoupling and "Deep" Reform
D. Moving beyond Decoupling: The progression of acculturation
1. Domestic political opportunity structure
2. The "civilizing force of hypocrisy" I: External audience effects
3. The "civilizing force of hypocrisy" II: Internal "audience" effects
4. Escalating demands by global civil society
5. Evolutionary state learning
6. The causal dispensability of domestic civil society/NGOs
E. Managing Decoupling: Designing institutions to reduce the gap

Chapter 9. Toward an Integrated Model of State Socialization
A. Taking Acculturation Seriously
B. Negative Interactions between Mechanisms
1. Conveyance of prevalence information
2. Overjustification and social signaling
3. Overjustification and self-perception
4. Overjustification and self-determination
5. "A fine is a price"
C. Sequencing Effects
D. Conditions for Mechanism Success
1. Targeting Capacity and Target Actor Characteristics
2. Influence agent characteristics

Chapter 10. Conclusion: Taking Stock and Future Research
A. Our Major Empirical Claims
B. Our Major Normative Applications
C. Future Normative Work
D. Future Empirical Work

Editorial Reviews

"Socializing States is the most important and consequential book on international law in many years." —Jack Goldsmith

"In this sophisticated study, Goodman and Jinks argue that international law affects states primarily through a process of socialization, in which state officials and other actors take on the beliefs and norms of others in their surrounding environment... The authors usefully summarize empirical studies that demonstrate that states have a tendency to imitate best practices in areas such as education, market liberalization, the environment, arms control, science policy, and human rights." —Foreign Affairs

"In Socializing States: Promoting Human Rights Through International Law, Professors Ryan Goodman and Derek Jinks have made a very important contribution to the growing body of scholarship at the intersection between international law and international relations. Indeed, the American Society of International Law recognized the book by awarding it the 2014 Certificate of Merit for a Preeminent Contribution to Creative Scholarship." -David Sloss, The American Journal of International Law

From the Publisher