Constitutionalising the Right to Water in Kenya and Slovenia: Domestic Drivers, Opportunity Structures, and Transnational Norm Entrepreneurs

The international norm development that in 2010 culminated with the UN Resolution on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation changed international law. To what extent did this influence the parallel legal developments evident in many national constitutions across the globe? This article analyses the mobilisation for a constitutional right to water and sanitation in Kenya and Slovenia, identifying the main national and transnational actors involved and assessing their significance for the processes of constitutionalising the right. By analysing two very different cases, tracing their constitutionalisation processes through analysis of archival material, the article provides multifaceted insights into processes of norm diffusion from international norm entrepreneurs to the national level and the agency of domestic actors and their opportunity structures. We find that although the outcomes of the processes in Kenya and Slovenia are similar in that both constitutions contain articles securing the right to water, the framing of the right differs. Furthermore, we conclude that while there is involvement of international actors in both cases, domestic pro-water activists and their normative and political opportunity structures are more important for understanding the successful constitutionalisation of the right to water and differences in the framing of the right.

Tipping pro-environmental norm diffusion at scale: opportunities and limitations

Rapid and comprehensive social change is required to mitigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change. Social tipping interventions have been proposed as a policy tool for creating this kind of change. Social tipping means that a small minority committed to a target behaviour can create a self-reinforcing dynamic, which establishes the target behaviour as a social norm. The possibility of achieving the large-scale diffusion of pro-environmental norms and related behaviours with an intervention delimited in size and time is tempting. Yet, the canonical model of tipping, the coordination game, may evoke overly optimistic expectations regarding the potential of tipping, due to the underlying assumption of homogenous preferences. Relaxing this assumption, we devise a threshold model of tipping pro-environmental norm diffusion. The model suggests that depending on the distribution of social preferences in a population, and the individual cost of adopting a given pro-environmental behaviour, the same intervention can activate tipping, have little effect, or produce a backlash. Favourable to tip pro-environmental norms are widespread advantageous inequity aversion and low adoption costs. Adverse are widespread self-regarding preferences or disadvantageous inequity aversion, and high costs. We discuss the policy implications of these findings and suggest suitable intervention strategies for different contexts.

The diffusion of norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and the resolution of disputes in the Asia-Pacific, in particular among signatory countries of the TPP

<p>People are central to economic development. Workers are relatively vulnerable compared to the other factors of the economy, including governments and employers. Because violations of workers’ rights and poor working conditions are prevalent, especially in developing countries, the diffusion of internationally recognized labor standards is now emerging as a critical process in the world. This is a process by which internationally recognized labor rights are transferred between countries by various means with the expectation of improving labor conditions world-wide. For this process to be successful, it is important that not only labor standards but also rules and mechanisms for their enforcement be diffused. The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) is currently under negotiation. The TPP is expected to be the first “high-quality, twenty-first-century agreement” in the world. Norm entrepreneurs have chosen the TPP to be a channel for the diffusion of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific. How is the TPP likely to diffuse the norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and dispute resolution? Will it be by means of goodwill, cooperation and consensus or through material conditionality? Labor rights are human rights which must be upheld and promoted. The answer to the above empirical question is very important to the policy-makers of signatory countries of the TPP, given that labor standards are considered to be a sensitive issue in many Asian countries. Their concerns are grounded in history. The Government of Poland and the communist system in Eastern Europe were brought down as a result of the implementation of labor rights in the 1980s¹. How to implement these rights without causing social and political disorder is a complex question for policy-makers in the TPP countries. The thesis reviews the literature on theoretical norm diffusion and labor standards as well as provides the empirical evidence of past diffusion of labor standards in order to identify which mechanisms of diffusion are likely to prevail in the field of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific region. It answers who are the drivers of diffusion. It draws on the record of all signed FTAs in the region to provide an empirical foundation for its projection about the likely content of the TPP in terms of rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards. ¹ After the rights to organize freely and to strike was recognized by the Government of Poland, the Solidarity Unions was formed and after many ups and downs of its evolution, finally it had led successfully the overthrow of the communist Government of Poland and “played a central role in the demise of communism across the Soviet bloc, changing forever the course of history in Europe”. Read more at http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html, and http://future.state.gov/when/timeline/1969_detente/fall_of_communism.html</p>

The diffusion of norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and the resolution of disputes in the Asia-Pacific, in particular among signatory countries of the TPP

<p>People are central to economic development. Workers are relatively vulnerable compared to the other factors of the economy, including governments and employers. Because violations of workers’ rights and poor working conditions are prevalent, especially in developing countries, the diffusion of internationally recognized labor standards is now emerging as a critical process in the world. This is a process by which internationally recognized labor rights are transferred between countries by various means with the expectation of improving labor conditions world-wide. For this process to be successful, it is important that not only labor standards but also rules and mechanisms for their enforcement be diffused. The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) is currently under negotiation. The TPP is expected to be the first “high-quality, twenty-first-century agreement” in the world. Norm entrepreneurs have chosen the TPP to be a channel for the diffusion of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific. How is the TPP likely to diffuse the norms, rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards and dispute resolution? Will it be by means of goodwill, cooperation and consensus or through material conditionality? Labor rights are human rights which must be upheld and promoted. The answer to the above empirical question is very important to the policy-makers of signatory countries of the TPP, given that labor standards are considered to be a sensitive issue in many Asian countries. Their concerns are grounded in history. The Government of Poland and the communist system in Eastern Europe were brought down as a result of the implementation of labor rights in the 1980s¹. How to implement these rights without causing social and political disorder is a complex question for policy-makers in the TPP countries. The thesis reviews the literature on theoretical norm diffusion and labor standards as well as provides the empirical evidence of past diffusion of labor standards in order to identify which mechanisms of diffusion are likely to prevail in the field of labor standards in the Asia-Pacific region. It answers who are the drivers of diffusion. It draws on the record of all signed FTAs in the region to provide an empirical foundation for its projection about the likely content of the TPP in terms of rules and mechanisms for the enforcement of labor standards. ¹ After the rights to organize freely and to strike was recognized by the Government of Poland, the Solidarity Unions was formed and after many ups and downs of its evolution, finally it had led successfully the overthrow of the communist Government of Poland and “played a central role in the demise of communism across the Soviet bloc, changing forever the course of history in Europe”. Read more at http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html, and http://future.state.gov/when/timeline/1969_detente/fall_of_communism.html</p>

Lost in translation: a comparative analysis of developing regions' receptions of the responsibility to protect norm

<p>The way in which different regions are receiving the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has been attracting increasing attention within academia in recent years, most notably after the NATO led intervention in Libya in 2011. Academics have attempted to analyse the extent to which R2P has been diffused in various states and have argued that states within developing regions have begun to localise R2P to make it more congruent with their pre-existing norms and practices in order to increase its acceptance. These studies have utilised traditional theories of norm diffusion which conceive of norms as static entities with fixed content and as such they have not attempted to analyse how the norm has been changing as a result of this process. Furthermore these studies have tended to analyse the diffusion of R2P in isolation from other states and other regions and as such, no comparative analysis of how regions have received R2P exists. This thesis employs a discursive approach, seeking to look at how R2P has been received within three developing regions (Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America) and in doing so aims to find how regions receptions of R2P differ and whether the content of R2P has changed between them. It finds that since the 2005 World Summit, receptions to R2P have not significantly altered and that where R2P is being gradually diffused it is increasingly becoming a norm for prevention rather than response.</p>

Lost in translation: a comparative analysis of developing regions' receptions of the responsibility to protect norm

<p>The way in which different regions are receiving the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has been attracting increasing attention within academia in recent years, most notably after the NATO led intervention in Libya in 2011. Academics have attempted to analyse the extent to which R2P has been diffused in various states and have argued that states within developing regions have begun to localise R2P to make it more congruent with their pre-existing norms and practices in order to increase its acceptance. These studies have utilised traditional theories of norm diffusion which conceive of norms as static entities with fixed content and as such they have not attempted to analyse how the norm has been changing as a result of this process. Furthermore these studies have tended to analyse the diffusion of R2P in isolation from other states and other regions and as such, no comparative analysis of how regions have received R2P exists. This thesis employs a discursive approach, seeking to look at how R2P has been received within three developing regions (Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America) and in doing so aims to find how regions receptions of R2P differ and whether the content of R2P has changed between them. It finds that since the 2005 World Summit, receptions to R2P have not significantly altered and that where R2P is being gradually diffused it is increasingly becoming a norm for prevention rather than response.</p>

Birthright Citizenship

Birthright citizenship refers to the legal status of citizenship when acquired through birth to a citizen parent (ius sanguinis) or birth in the territory of a state (ius soli). This is how most people acquire citizenship, often unconditionally and automatically at birth. A minority across the globe acquire citizenship through naturalization. Historically ius soli predominated from the Early Modern period, when those born in the sovereign’s territory automatically became their subjects. Ius sanguinis arose following the French Revolution, reflecting the free citizen father’s right to pass citizenship on to his child. Both forms spread globally through imitation and colonization. All states now award citizenship by birth; most have a combination of the two forms. But the strength of provisions varies. All states have substantial ius sanguinis provision; fewer have strong ius soli. In both, acquisition may depend on certain restrictive conditions related to parental birthplace or residence, marital status, gender, religion, ethnicity, or race. Until recently citizenship has been studied more by lawyers than political scientists, and birthright citizenship has received less attention than naturalization. Studies have tended to focus on the citizenship laws and policies of a limited number of states, mainly in the Global North. Only recently have studies covering a greater number and diversity of countries begun to emerge. Comparative scholars have sought to identify and explain different patterns of birthright citizenship provision related to the strength of ius soli and ius sanguinis. These have been interpreted variously as alternative models reflecting different national conceptions of citizenship, as determined by civil or common law traditions, or as dependent on histories of emigration, immigration, and colonization. Contemporary changes have been understood as a function of domestic electoral politics, developments in international law, norm diffusion among states, or a range of contingent contextual factors. Scholars dispute whether diversity of citizenship regimes has been succeeded by convergence. More complex typologies and indices, including birthright citizenship, have emerged, along with increasing availability of data on citizenship around the world. The justification of birthright citizenship has been much debated. Birthright citizenship has been seen as an appropriate way of allocating democratic membership, providing intergenerational continuity of citizenry, reducing the incidence of statelessness, and integrating immigrants. But ius sanguinis has often been criticized as exclusive and illiberal. It is debated whether ius soli is better justified, or if all forms of birthright citizenship should be seen as conveying arbitrary privilege and contributing to global inequality.