THE PARADOX OF U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY
Andrew Moravcsik
Moravcsik’s article focuses on the question of why
a country with such a long tradition of supporting human rights would be so reluctant to ratify multilateral human rights treaties. He refutes the idea of a unique American “rights culture” (a special commitment to popular sovereignty and local government, nationalistic belief in the US constitution and
political institutions, and libertarian conception of rights). He points instead to a “pluralist” idea, claiming that four factors unique to the American system explain this paradox: “the extreme strength of its geopolitical position, the extreme stability of its domestic democratic institutions, the extreme conservatism of a vocal minority in the political system, and the extreme decentralization of its political institutions.” The extreme strenght of America's geopolitical position makes it hesitant to sacrifice this status with the advocacy of ubiquitous human rights. The extreme stability and converatism of its democratic institutions makes it more difficult to incentivize multilateral treaties. And finally the centralization makes it difficult for America to act as one unit as, in reality, many factions and parties exist. Its superpower status makes it unilateral options more possible, its stability makes the protection of democratic institutions at home less of a concern, its vocal conservative minority makes multilateral treaties more controversial, and the decentralization of political institutions makes it more difficult to impact domestic law through international treaties because so many different people can stop a treaty they don’t like. Since the United States is the only country with all four of these characteristics, it is the least likely of the world’s democracies to support international human rights norms. American politics are not markedly different (except for the vocal minority) from the rest of the world, but its structures and institutions are, and this is Moravcsik’s explanation for American international human rights policy, and this policy will be long-lasting, since it is a product of institutions, not political considerations.