The International Commission of Jurists: Global Advocates for Human Rights

Introduction: Human Rights NGOs, World Politics, and International Law

Introduction: Human Rights NGOs, World Politics, and International Law The great violators of human rights are sovereign governments , ... when they choose to be a law unto themselves, there is no effective power to stop them .... The task before us is to find the way to diffuse that power. It needs to be dispersed in two directions. Firstly, downwards to the provinces, to the communities and ultimately to the individuals who constitute our nations, ... And secondly, upwards to the continents or regions, and ultimately to Tennyson's dream of "the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World." -Ie] Secretary-General Niall MacDermot 1 Is the International Commission of Jurists part of a "new world order?" Theorists make conflicting claims about the influence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The first section of this Introduction explores the debate between realists and idealists and proposes a functional analysis of human rights institutions. The second section presents research questions about ICJ functions to test rival claims. The third section compares pluralism and corporatism to raise questions about the IC]'s origins, funding, and governance. A final section explains the methodology used to conduct this case study. Activists and practitioners who read an early draft of this Introduction disagreed with its academic reviewers on how much theory was appropriate for this book. The revised text attempts to make the study accessible to the widest possible audience. Readers who regard academic terminology as impossible jargon should begin with Part I rather than this Introduction. A complete IC] history begins in Chapter 1. Readers with a broader interest in political and legal theory can 2 Introduction trace the analytical framework of this Introduction through selected findings in the concluding section of each chapter and a comprehensive analysis in the Conclusion. Following an appendix of IC] publications , a four-part research bibliography lists works on (1) world politics and international law; (2) international nongovernmental organizations ; (3) human rights NGOs; and (4) interest groups, pluralism , and corporatism. Catalyst for a New World Order? Realists versus Idealists Realists,Positivism,and StateSovereignty Realists would consider an IC] study no more promising than would readers who never met a lawyer they could trust. Most international relations scholars continue to view states as the unchallenged masters of world politics; they dismiss NGOs as being mostly "trivial" with "minimal" capabilities." NGOs can only influence the "low" politics of economic and social concerns. States alone are significant players in the "high" politics of security and diplomacy. Realists treat past as prologue: the current state system will continue indefinitely into a future governed by superior political and economic power rather than by international law and organization." According to that pessimistic appraisal, war and gross human rights violations not only will persist but are unavoidable features of any conceivable inter-state systern ." In a Machiavellian world where might continues to make right, history proves that the rule of law is unattainable. State power configurations may have changed over the past three centuries, but the different bipolar, multipolar, and unipolar patterns have not been influenced by international organizations. Highly touted new global forces may occasionally influence government decisions, but they demonstrate no real power to control. In Zbigniew Brzezinski's view, global turmoil remains out of control . He tallies the unprecedented body count of the twentieth century and forecasts undiminished carnage in the twenty-first." Samuel Huntington anticipates a renewed clash of civilizations more profound than nation-state rivalry as fundamentalist Islamic, Hindu, Confucian , and other non-Western cultures challenge European world dominance." Legal positivism parallels political science realism. Dualism treats international and municipal law as distinct, so that local courts give national law priority over any conflicting international duty. Positivists also regard states as beyond regulation unless a government consents to accept a particular international law. . Introduction 3 Since the late eighteenth century, "positivism" in international law has been identified above all with two propositions: (1) that "law," properly so called, is a set of rules distinct from "natural law or morality," and (2) that the source of all law, so understood, that is binding on the citizens and officials of a state is the will of the sovereign as expressed internally through legislation and externally through explicit agreement (treaties) or tacit agreement (custom) with other states." Deriding "monistic idealists," a positivist critic asserted that international human rights laws and enforcement procedures are "so ineffective as to be completely worthless." 8 Coercive enforcement distinguishes positive law...