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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Human Rights Regime In West Africa: The Case Of Ecowas And The Journey To Nigeria's Fourth Republic, Fatima Mercy Aigbomian
Human Rights Regime In West Africa: The Case Of Ecowas And The Journey To Nigeria's Fourth Republic, Fatima Mercy Aigbomian
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
As regional economic communities within Africa expanded into courts to resolve economic disputes and these courts further metamorphosed into human rights courts, scholars of international human rights law have theorized about the reason for the “proliferation” of human rights mechanisms in Africa. This article examines why regional economic communities have courts whose jurisdiction have been expanded to hear human rights claims. I focus on the role of domestic politics and the strategic leadership of dominant member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Contrary to approaches that emphasize human rights courts are a well-orchestrated showmanship utilized as …
Regional Regimes For The Defense Of Democracy And Coups D'Etat, Jacob P. Wobig
Regional Regimes For The Defense Of Democracy And Coups D'Etat, Jacob P. Wobig
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Does international law work, and if so, how? In the last twenty years eight regional intergovernmental organizations have adopted treaties requiring all participants to be democracies and specifying sanctions to be leveled against members that cease to be democracies. In this work I examine to what extent these agreements are helping protect the governments of their members from coups. I find that, between 1991 and 2008, states subject to these treaties were less likely to experience attempted coups d’etat, and were less likely to be overthrown when coups were attempted, but that the evidence varies widely in particular cases. Case …