The human rights repertoire: its strategic logic, expectations and tactics

The article explores the strategic use of 'human rights' in challenger activism. Drawing upon a wide variety of observations from academics, politicians, and journalists, it formalises the concept of 'the human rights repertoire'. Political actors employ this set of strategies by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The international journal of human rights 2010-07, Vol.14 (4), p.559-583
Main Author: Hagan, Margaret
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Audiences
Autonomy
China
ethnic activism
Expectations
Human Rights
Human rights movements
Human rights violations
Journalists
Legal norms
Nonviolence
Peoples Republic of China
Political movements
Political Violence
Politicians
Politics
Self-interest
Social movements
Strategic behaviour
transnational activism
Transnationalism
Uigur
Uyghurs
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Summary:The article explores the strategic use of 'human rights' in challenger activism. Drawing upon a wide variety of observations from academics, politicians, and journalists, it formalises the concept of 'the human rights repertoire'. Political actors employ this set of strategies by making claims of human rights abuse in order to further their interests. The article delineates the logic and expectations of the repertoire, as well as its intermediate goals and the claim components and behaviour it uses to achieve them. The human rights repertoire is an information-based, non-violent strategy, which relies on the power of norm invocations and displays of abuse to secure support from the target audience. To demonstrate the specifics of the repertoire, the article draws upon the case study of the transnational Uyghur campaign, which uses the human rights repertoire as its primary means to secure Western support in their challenge to the Chinese authorities.
ISSN:1364-2987
1744-053X
DOI:10.1080/13642980802704312