The European human rights regime: Creation, evolution, and the defining characteristics from a cognitive perspective

Abstract

Post-World War II internationalization of human rightsprompted the emergence of international human rights regimesas social institutions characterized by the conjunction ofconvergent expectations and patterns of behavior orpractice. The (Western) European Human Rights Regime is astriking example of these institutions. This thesis explainsthe creation, evolution as well as the definingcharacteristics of this regional regime. Due to thelimitations of the structural, game-theoretic and functionaltheories of international regimes in elucidating the caseunder scrutiny, a `cognitive` perspective is adopted.The (Western) European Human Rights Regime is a product ofthe post-War ideological consensus among the WesternEuropean governments and non-governmental actors. Humanrights are an indispensable component of Western liberaldemoc~acies to which the Second World War proposed a realchallenge and thus thought a lesson. Consequently, justafter the War, the regime for human rights was created as apart of an overall plan for European unification. Havingbeen regarded both as moral and a political undertaking theregime acquired important enforcement powers no sooner thanit was established.Initially the norms and decision making procedures of theregime were defined by the European Convention on HumanRights and Fundamental Freedoms drawn up within theframework of the Council of Europe. In time, the regime hasgone through an evolution along two axes which may be termed`deepening` and `widening`. As its normative and proceduralscope in addition to membership expanded within theframework of the council, (`deepening`) the regime alsospread, within the framework of the CSCE, over to EasternEurope so as to transgress ideological boundaries(`widening`) which no longer stand as high as they didbefore.