This special issue of Human Rights Review is devoted to an exploration of the current human rights research agendas within the political science discipline. Research on human rights is truly an interdisciplinary quest in which various epistemologies can contribute to each other and form a larger dialogue concerning rights and wrongs. This special issue is devoted to an expansive understanding of the state of research on human rights in the political science discipline. One common theme throughout these contributions is the (...) need for a more nuanced conceptualization of human rights, tools to promote these rights and as social scientists, methodologies employed to study these rights. A second theme is the policy relevance that can be derived from our empirical analysis. This volume demonstrates that the integration of theoretically and normatively rich concepts, empirical social science, and policy relevance do not have to be mutually exclusive when studying human rights. (shrink)

Although the use of truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) has grown considerably over the last 3 decades, there is still much that we do not know concerning the choice and the structuring of TRCs. While the literature has focused primarily on the effects of TRCs, we examine the domestic and the international factors influencing the choice of a commission in sub-Saharan Africa from 1974 to 2003 using pooled cross-sectional time series. We find that states which adopted a TRC prior to (...) South Africa were generally repressive centralized regimes which used the truth commission as political cover. However, since South Africa’s TRC, democratizing states have been more likely to adopt a truth commission as a form of transitional justice. (shrink)

This article examines how international institutions serve to diffuse human rights norms and create judicial capacity building in post-conflict societies. Specifically, we examine how the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Office of the High Representative have influenced the reform of domestic courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). We place these reforms within the broader debate over restructuring the complex system of government in BiH. Since 2005, domestic courts in BiH have had jurisdiction over the following: (...) (1) Cases which were initially under the jurisdiction of the domestic courts but remanded to the ICTY and recently returned to BiH. (2) Cases which originated at the ICTY and have been transferred to the State Court, and (3) new cases which originated and remained in the domestic court system. We find that while human rights norms have been incorporated into the new legal code, the diffusion of these human rights norms has been inadequate because of the lack of judicial capacity building. While some courts in the capital enjoy significant resources, the vast majority of cases will be tried at provincial courts which are under-funded and unable to prosecute the significant number of cases. Moreover, the government structure of BiH has had a decidedly negative impact on the prosecution of these cases. Ultimately, the rule of law requires consistency of approach and funding to protect human rights throughout the state. (shrink)

The Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers for Cambodia represent a departure from the model established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yygoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The SCSL and the ECC have often been referred to as “mixed” or “hybrid” tribunals in which there are significant domestic and international components. The tribunals include a combination of domestic and international judges, utilize domestic and international laws and are administered by a prosecutorial team (...) composed of domestic and international lawyers. Many of these institutional changes have been brought about because of criticisms of the ICTY and the ICTR. The fundamental question of this article is whether these mixed tribunals are a more effective mechanism for providing justice and reconciliation than purely international solutions. This is an important question because both the international community and states are moving in the direction of mixed tribunals. (shrink)