British counterterrorism, the international prohibition of torture, and the multiple streams framework

After years of violating the basic principles of human rights in the name of counterterrorism, western democracies have begun to implement extraterritorial safeguards that extend protections under the Convention against Torture to foreigners abroad. The case of the UK and the development of the ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy and politics 2022-04, Vol.50 (2), p.225-241
Main Author: Heaphy, Janina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Convention Against Torture
Counterterrorism
Foreign Policy
Human Rights
Multiple Streams Framework
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:After years of violating the basic principles of human rights in the name of counterterrorism, western democracies have begun to implement extraterritorial safeguards that extend protections under the Convention against Torture to foreigners abroad. The case of the UK and the development of the 'Principles' in 2019, however, presents a particular puzzle to policymaking research, as it challenges traditional hypotheses regarding the opening of problem windows within the multiple streams framework. Accordingly, the UK presents an interesting case in which a powerful state willingly engaged in self-restraint, despite little electoral pressure to do so and a persistently high terrorist threat. Drawing on theory-building process-tracing, this article addresses this gap using data from semi-structured interviews with British policy experts to present a refined hypothesis, which can also be applied to policy fields of little public interest and processes of foreign policymaking.
ISSN:0305-5736
DOI:10.1332/030557321X16375950978608