Regional Organizations and Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law: The African Union, Organization of American States, and the Diffusion of Institutions

by Sören Stapel

Overview

This book explores when, why, and how regional organizations adopt and design institutions to promote and protect fundamental standards of democracy, human rights, and rule of law in their member states. These regional institutions have spread globally. While their institutional designs have become increasingly similar over time, regional particularities persist. The book identifies factors that generate the demand for regional institutions and shape its institutional design. The argument combines hitherto juxtaposed explanatory factors of demands and diffusion by integrating them in a single framework and clarifying under what conditions the interplay between demands and diffusion plays out in the adoption and design of regional institutions. The book provides a comprehensive overview of regional democracy, human rights, and rule of law institutions based on two original datasets and draws on multivariate statistical analysis as well as case studies on the making and change of regional institutions in the Organization of American States and the Organization of African Unity/African Union.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030903978
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	01/10/2022
Series:	Governance and Limited Statehood
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	349
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sören Stapel is postdoctoral researcher at the University of Freiburg, Germany. His research interests include global and regional governance, norm and policy diffusion, human rights, and overlapping regionalism. He recently published Comparing Regional Organizations (Bristol University Press, 2020, with Diana Panke and Anna Starkmann).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Explaining Regional Democracy, Human Rights, and Rule of Law Institutions.- Chapter 3: Patterns of regional democracy, human rights, and rule of law institutions.- Chapter 4: Accounting for variation in the adoption and design of regional democracy, human rights, and rule of law institutions: A spatial econometric approach.- Chapter 5: The Organization of American States: Pioneering the adoption and design of institutions.- Chapter 6: The Organization of African Unity and African Union: Following the design of reference models.- Chapter 7: Conclusion.- Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

‘‘This outstanding book shows when, why and how regional organizations adopt and design regional democracy, human rights, and rule of law institutions. Combining mixed-methods with rigorous theory-driven analysis, Sören Stapel captures the broad picture, provides fascinating answers and highlights the interplay of demands and diffusion in two rich case studies on the OAS and OAU/AU. A must-read for all scholars of comparative regionalism.’’

– Johannes Muntschick, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany

Editorial Reviews

The book asserts that, regardless of differences between states regarding the norm creation process, ROs play a crucial role in norm generation, the provision of methods to enhance compliance, and enforcement measures in defined situations. A debt of gratitude is deserved for this significant addition to the empirical literature on regionalism and global governance.” (Linda Darkwa, Yearbook on the African Union, Issue 3, 2022)

From the Publisher