POLI 150 Recitation

Section: Human Rights

Attendance password: UDHR
Key terms
● Human rights
○ rights that all individuals possess by virtue of being human,
regardless of their status as citizens of particular states or
members of a group or organization
○ [Q] Examples?
○ [Q] Why might universal human rights be controversial?
Key terms
● Are some human rights more “important” than others?
○ Nonderogable rights
■ Rights that cannot be suspended for ANY reason
● Examples include freedom from torture or cruel and
degrading punishment; the right to be recognized as a
person before the law; and freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion
■ Amnesty international focuses primarily on these
Key terms
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
○ Declaration, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, that defines a
“common standard of achievement for all peoples” and forms the
foundation of modern human rights law.
■ First mover on pressuring govts
○ Four pillars, supporting “dignity, liberty, equality, and brotherhood.”
■ Ex. Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.”
○ Soft law
■ [Q] What does this mean?
Key terms

● Twin Covenants
○ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
○ AND The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR)
■ Elaborates further the civil and political rights and freedoms listed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
■ States commit themselves to promote the right to self-determination
and to respect that right
■ Also recognises the rights of peoples to freely own, trade and dispose of
their natural wealth and resources
○ Legally binding and enforceable treaties
■ Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1966
■ Hard law
● Does human rights legislation work?
● Maybe
Signing and doing nothing
● Doing something to protect citizens requires some effort
● In the absence of a carrot or reward, there is no incentive to take a
costly action
● Fear that reigning in security forces may lead to weakening of
states, particularly those that are already fragile
● Often belief that actual punishments are unlikely to come, because
coordinating a punishment is difficult
Self-motivated interests
● But…concerns about foreign perceptions can motivate state
behavior
○ In Aug 2023, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi pardoned prominent Arab
Spring activist Ahmed Douma and 30 political prisoners
○ Why?
Self-motivated interests
● But…concerns about foreign perceptions can motivate state
behavior
○ In Aug 2023, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi pardoned prominent Arab
Spring activist Ahmed Douma and 30 political prisoners
○ Desire to appeal to intl funders
■ In 2021 Biden admin imposed human rights conditions on security $$ to
Egypt
○ Former autocracies that are democratizing are the MOST likely states to sign
human rights treaties
■ See also Conrad and Ritter 2013 from last week
Self-motivated interests
● But…concerns about foreign perceptions can motivate state behavior
○ In Aug 2023, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi pardoned prominent Arab Spring
activist Ahmed Douma and 30 political prisoners
○ Desire to appeal to intl funders
■ In 2021 Biden admin imposed human rights conditions on security $$ to Egypt
○ Former autocracies that are democratizing are the MOST likely states to sign human
rights treaties
■ See also Conrad and Ritter 2013 from last week
● See also treaty politics
○ Inducements from other states, such as trade agreements to “lock in” commitment
to human rights
Midterm review
● Info
○ Midterm exam Monday October 23rd (in class)
■ The exam will be completed on your computer in class.
■ Format
● 10ish Multiple choice, 3ish fill in the blank/short answer, one short essay
○ Essay will likely be similar to both discussion topics and writing
assignments (shorter)
● Studying
○ Key terms from textbook (see CBR study sheet on canvas)
■ Pay especially attention to terms that come up in writing assignments
○ Review slides (both recitation and main class), and textbook
Midterm review: Major Topics (not an exhaustive list)

1. Ch2: Sovereignty, power, collective action problems

2. Ch3: Bargaining model of war, incomplete information, commitment
problems
3. Ch4: Democratic peace, rally effect
4. Ch5: Alliances, collective security organizations
5. Ch6: Civil war, terrorism, coercion, provocation
6. See this slide deck for Ch7 terms
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch2
● Sovereignty
○ Modern concept of the sovereign state originated with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648
○ State has supreme legal/political authority within their borders
■ Each sovereign state has the right of self-defense and non-intervention from other
states
● Power
○ Ability of an actor to compel another actor to do something they otherwise would not do
○ The more power an actor has, the more it can expect to get from others in the final
outcome of bargaining
○ Can come in different forms
● Collective action problem
○ Obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to work together but
each act with the expectation that others will pay the cost
■ See also “free riding”
■ [Q] Ways to overcome?
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch3
● Key assumptions of Bargaining model of war
○ (1) war is costly
○ (2) a settlement that both sides would prefer to war generally exists.
● Incomplete information
○ Actors lack full understanding of interests or capabilities
○ Institutions can help to reduce information uncertainty
○ With incomplete information, states have incentives to misrepresent to their
opponent to maximize their bargaining power
● Commitment problem explanation for war
○ Changes in power render negotiated agreements non-credible (opponents will not
honor their commitments in the future)
○ A state has incentives to renege: One or both sides do not believe that the other will
fulfill the terms of their agreement
■ States therefore preempt and go to war when they believe the dynamics of their
relationship with others are changing
○ See also preventive war and preemptive war
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch4
● Rally effect
○ A short-term boost in government approval from a foreign policy crisis
■ Diversionary incentive: “Wag the dog”
● Temptation to spark an international crisis in order to rally public support at
home
● Not particularly common
○ Both democratic and nondemocratic leaders may seek the rally effect
■ Democracy: rally for reelection
■ Autocracy: rally to re-establish legitimacy
● Democratic peace argument
○ Argues that democracies are much less likely to go to war with other democracies
■ Democracies have more transparent political institutions
● Reduce information uncertainty (free press)
● Forces consensus between elite and masses
● Leaders accountable
■ Democracies share a norm of mutual respect and non-violence (culture)
● Masses bear costs
● Promotes norms of negotiation
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch5
● Alliances
○ Commitments by states to cooperate on security policy.
○ They form when states have compatible interests in military cooperation.
■ When two states worry about the rise of a third potential threat, banding
together may allow them collectively to still be stronger than other state.
■ Weak state may gain protection from powerful rivals
■ Strong state may signal its resolve to defend weak state.
● Collective security
○ Ex. The United Nations
○ Unlike alliances, collective security organizations are formed around common
interest that all states (are presumed to) share: global peace
○ In a collective security organization:
■ Members pledge to aid any state that is attacked
■ This means an attack on one is an attack on all
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch6
● The two most common forms of non-state violence are: Civil war
and Terrorism
○ Close empirical relationship between civil wars and the incidence of terrorism
○ Both are examples of asymmetric warfare
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch6
● Civil war=“a war in which the main participants are within the same
state.”
○ Information Problems
■ Both governments and rebel groups have incentives to withhold information.
■ Both have access to different kinds of information.
■ Information asymmetries prevent them from making a deal to avoid war.
○ Commitment problems
■ Resolution of civil conflict usually requires rebel group to disarm.
● Once rebel group disarms, how can it trust state to honor its commitments?
○ Indivisible goods
■ While state territory is technically divisible, governments may not be willing to
compromise on this particularly if it faces many other groups that might also want
to secede
○ Two broad factors that consistently reduce onset of civil war
■ Country Wealth
■ Democracy
Midterm review: Major Topics Ch6
● Terrorism:
○ The use or threatened use of violence against noncombatant targets by
individuals or nonstate groups in order to obtain political objectives through
the intimidation of a larger audience
○ Terrorism is explicitly a strategy by a group to extract concessions (not by
defeating the adversary) but by attacking noncombatants
○ Terrorists typically weak
■ Relative to targets (normally states)
■ Relative to magnitude of demands (their goals)
○ Coercion
■ Strategy of imposing/threatening to impose costs on other actors to change behavior
● Threat of future costs= Influence a group beyond immediate victims
○ Provocation
■ Strategy intended to provoke disproportionate response by opposing government
● Governments may try to strike terrorist targets (often mixed with civilian populations)
● Can result in civilian deaths potentially alienating moderates in area the terrorists are
based