Transnational politics, international relations theory, and human rights: a new model of international politics is needed to explain the politics of human rights.(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Fifty)

PS: Political Science & Politics, September, 1998 by Sikkink, Kathryn

Human rights issues have become embroiled in international political debates because implementation of these principles necessitated the usurpation of the sovereignty of authoritarian states. The principles have triggered the development of norms which dictate the ethical validity or non-validity of laws in different countries. Political scientists who belittle the significance of human rights issues cannot fail to comprehend the power inherent in norms. As such, they would do well to analyze how norms espoused by a small group of advocates become globally influential.

The rise of human rights as an international issue in the later half of the 20th century presents a puzzle for students of comparative politics and international relations. Many of our dominant theories -...

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