2
By almost any measure, nearly one out of two of the world’s governments today are
repressive; systematically denying human beings living in their borders rights to be free
from murder, torture, or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;
prolonged detention without charges; disappearance or clandestine detention; free and
fair elections; and other flagrant violations of the right to life, liberty, and the security of
the person.
2
Many scholars and policymakers have been working to bring these
governments to justice, trying to figure out what kind of human rights policies can make
repressors accountable for their actions and stop future abuses (Koh 2002). Unfortunately,
their primary political tools, international human rights laws, have so far not led to a
world free from violence or abuse, and individuals today are no more protected today
than thirty years ago. Our concern in this paper is with the efficacy of these laws to
reform those actors most in violation, “bad” states, whose governments repress or allow
repression of human beings within their borders.
International human rights laws are legal instruments designed commonly by the
United Nations to outlaw repressive practices and commit governments all over the world
to reforms, voluntarily. There is not simply one type or form of international law to
protect human rights; international legalization displays great variations, from hard to soft
laws. Hard laws are legally binding obligations that are precise but that also delegate
authority for interpretation and implementation (Keohane, Moravcsik, and Slaughter
2001). Soft laws are weaker along one or more of these dimensions: obligations, in the
2
Amnesty International reported on 168 states in 2003; 81 were observed to commit
significant acts of repression. The US State Department reported on 176 states in 2003;
88 were observed to commit significant acts of repression. Freedom House reported on
188 states in 2003; 81 were observed to commit significant acts of repression. These data
will be explored in greater detail in the section on data.
Convention