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Mind the Gap: State Capacity and the Implementation of Human Rights Treaties

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  • Cole, Wade M.

Abstract

According to recent studies, international human rights treaties are ineffective, counterproductive, or else beneficial for only those countries that tend to respect human rights regardless of treaty membership. Analysts often attribute gaps between human rights principles and practices to willful disobedience, self-interested defection, and ineffective enforcement. Using two-stage regression models to analyze compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, I examine whether countries' inability (as opposed to unwillingness) to implement treaty terms is also responsible for the gap between commitment and compliance. I find that one dimension of state capacity in particular—bureaucratic efficacy—enhances levels of compliance with civil, political, and physical integrity rights provisions. These findings lend credence to an important aspect of the managerial approach—that noncompliance is often inadvertent and conditioned by a state's ability to implement treaty terms.

Suggested Citation

  • Cole, Wade M., 2015. "Mind the Gap: State Capacity and the Implementation of Human Rights Treaties," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 405-441, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:69:y:2015:i:02:p:405-441_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Tarald Gulseth Berge & Øyvind Stiansen, 2023. "Bureaucratic capacity and preference attainment in international economic negotiations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 467-498, July.
    2. Catherine Z. Worsnop, 2017. "Domestic politics and the WHO’s International Health Regulations: Explaining the use of trade and travel barriers during disease outbreaks," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 365-395, September.
    3. Paul Chaney, 2017. "Limited Gains, Enduring Violations," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 12(3), pages 286-307, December.
    4. Anil Hira, 2020. "Developing State Capacity: The Missing Variable for Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 36(3), pages 290-311, September.
    5. Adam Scharpf & Christian Gläßel, 2020. "Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations: Evidence from Autocratic Argentina," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 791-806, October.
    6. Violet Benneker & Klarita Gërxhani & Stephanie Steinmetz, 2020. "Enforcing Your Own Human Rights? The Role of Social Norms in Compliance with Human Rights Treaties," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 184-193.
    7. Robert G Blanton & Shannon Lindsey Blanton & Dursun Peksen, 2020. "Confronting human trafficking: The role of state capacity," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(4), pages 471-489, July.

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