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Full-Text Articles in Law
The United Kingdom’S Human Rights Act: Using Its Past To Predict Its Future, Joanne Sweeny
The United Kingdom’S Human Rights Act: Using Its Past To Predict Its Future, Joanne Sweeny
JoAnne Sweeny
The results of the recent General Election in the United Kingdom have both highlighted the flexible nature of the UK’s constitution and placed the UK’s existing bill of rights (the Human Rights Act 1998) in jeopardy. In order to predict the HRA’s future, it is useful to consider how and why the HRA was enacted. Through the use of primary data, this article shows that the HRA was enacted as a result of a unique combination of historical factors and the efforts of public interest groups. These two main elements are analyzed using Rational Choice Theory and Social Movement Theory, …
History, Strategy And True Believers: Combining Rational Choice Theory And Social Movement Theory To Explain The Effectiveness Of Social Movements, Joanne Sweeny
JoAnne Sweeny
Both Rational Choice Theory and Social Movement Theory attempt to explain how public interest groups can influence political actors to enact progressive legislation or case law. Yet neither of these theories present a clear picture of what must be present for a social movement to succeed nor what must be absent for it to fail. For example, the bill of rights movement in the United Kingdom resulted in the Human Rights Act 1998 while the United States’ gay rights movement, which began to gain momentum around the same time, has had much more inconsistent success. This article addresses this problem …