World influences on human rights language in constitutions: A cross-national study

Beck, Colin J.; Drori, Gili S.; Meyer, John W.

doi:10.1177/0268580912443575

Cited by 50 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Research in this perspective has most often focused on explaining, therefore, the diffusion of these models and the connection of states to the actors and networks of World Society. Research has shown the spread of world cultural models linked to issues including, but not limited to: human rights (Clark, 2010;Cole, 2005Cole, , 2012aCole, , 2012bCole & Ramirez, 2013), education (Schofer & Meyer, 2005), environmental institutions (Frank, Hironaka, & Schofer, 2000;Frank, Longhofer, & Schofer, 2007;Longhofer & Schofer, 2010;Meyer, Frank, Hironaka, Schofer, & Tuma, 1997;Schofer & Hironaka, 2005), women's empowerment and gender equality (Berkovitch, 1999;Cole, 2013;Nugent & Shandra, 2009;Swiss, 2009;Wotipka & Ramirez, 2008;Yoo, 2011), corporate policy (Lim & Tsutsui, 2012), and legal reforms (Beck, Drori, & Meyer, 2012;Boyle et al, 2015;Frank et al, 2009Frank et al, , 2010. The general conclusion of much of this research has been that the more ties or connections a state has to the actors and networks that compose World Society, the more likely they are to adopt and enact various world cultural models and practices.…”

Section: World Society and The Rule Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

Dawson

Swiss

2020

British Journal of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the role of bilateral foreign aid in supporting the diffusion and enactment of common models and institutions of the rule of law among aid‐recipient low‐ and middle‐income countries. We ask whether aid targeted at security‐sector reform and the rule of law influences the adoption of constitutional and legal reforms over time (institutional diffusion), and whether aid also supports more effective implementation of the rule of law, writ large (legal reach). We use event history and fixed‐effects panel regression models to examine a sample of 154 countries between 1995 and 2013 to answer these questions. Our findings suggest that aid does increase the likelihood of adopting several rule of law reforms, but its effect on increasing the depth or quality of rule of law over time within countries is much less substantial. These findings suggest that though aid may play a role in supporting the diffusion of models contributing to state isomorphism among countries, it is less effective at increasing the pervasiveness and quality of such model’s implementation. This discrepancy between the effectiveness of bilateral aid in promoting law on the books versus law in action in aid recipient countries calls into question the current approach to rule of law reforms.

show abstract

Section: World Society and The Rule Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

Dawson

Swiss

2020

British Journal of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the realm of comparative constitutional law, the question of borrowing is often framed by references to global convergence or isomorphism-as demonstrated, for instance, in the "world polity" tradition or in Günter Frankenberg's "IKEA" theory of isomorphism (Frankenberg 2010;Beck, Drori, and Meyer 2012;see also Waters 2007;Law 2008;Gardbaum 2013). Frankenberg's model of constitutional migration and isomorphism, however, includes a middle stage of transfer in which constitutional concepts move from a particular local context to a global "IKEA center" before the idea (now "globalized") is adopted in its new location.…”

Section: Analytical Framework I: From Text To Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing

Bâli¹,

Mednicoff²,

Lerner³

2020

Law Soc. Inq.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political scientists and scholars of comparative constitutional law have analyzed the transnational movement of constitutional ideas and norms, but the political processes through which the meaning of foreign provisions might be refashioned remain understudied. Sociolegal scholars have examined the “transplantation” and “translation” of laws and legal institutions, but they rarely scrutinize this process in the context of constitutions. Drawing on an examination of borrowed constitutional elements in four cases (Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel), this article builds on research in comparative politics, comparative constitutional law, and sociolegal studies to provide a nuanced picture of deliberate efforts to import “inclusive” constitutional provisions regarding religion-state relations while, at the same time, refashioning the meaning of those provisions in ways that “exclude” specific forms of religious, sectarian, doctrinal, or ideological diversity. Building on sociolegal studies regarding the translation of law, we argue that foreign constitutional elements embraced by politically embedded actors are often treated as “empty signifiers” with meanings that are deliberately transformed. Tracing the processes that lead political actors to engage foreign constitutional elements, even if they have no intention of transplanting their prior meaning, we highlight the need for detailed case studies to reveal both the international and the national dynamics that shape and reshape the meaning of constitutions today.

show abstract

“…During the decades since, there has been extensive academic writing on the concept of human rights throughout various disciplines, with a major focus on its universal aspects and global diffusion around various countries (C. J. Beck, Drori, and Meyer 2012;Pollis 2004). For most globalization scholars, resting on the world society approach (Boli and Thomas 1999;Meyer et al 1997), the human rights idea was seen as a fulfillment of all the new world culture principles, such as secularism, individualism, and global citizenship (Bush 2007).…”

Section: Glocalization and The Sociology Of Human Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shades of Universality: Variation of Performances in the Glocalized Israeli Human Rights Discourse

Bornstein

2020

Sociological Perspectives

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Discursive variations of human rights are typically examined in a cross-national comparison, while usually referring to local arenas as homogeneous particularistic spaces confronting glocal uniform performances of human rights. Using a comparative analysis of six paradigmatic altruistic Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and critically reviewing globalization and human rights literature, this study challenges the cross-national-oriented studies and the common analysis of human rights in local settings as a monolithic phenomenon. By mapping the Israeli organizational field of human rights, the study reveals substantial variations in terms of glocal identity, which allow the creation of an analytical framework for contextualizing local diversity. This diversity, as this paper shows, includes distinct models of human rights activities, which were mostly absent or dismissed as inauthentic in research thus far. The paper discusses the importance of future awareness of intranational variations, and the potential contribution this may have to the sociological understanding of current human rights institutions. Finally, the paper concludes by raising awareness to liberal normative assumptions in research, which may lead to the exclusion of alternative social phenomena from inquiry, especially in the case of moral discourses.

show abstract

World influences on human rights language in constitutions: A cross-national study

Cited by 50 publications

References 32 publications

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing

Shades of Universality: Variation of Performances in the Glocalized Israeli Human Rights Discourse

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About