Deference and Divergence in Regional Human Rights Courts - by Maria A Sanchez Paperback

About the Book

"This book investigates how the regional human rights courts developed divergent founding interpretations of judges' authority and demonstrates how those founding interpretations of judicial authority have manifested in contemporary disparities across how each court admits, rules on, and orders governments to implement reparations in cases of grave human rights abuses"--

Book Synopsis

In Deference and Divergence in Regional Human Rights Courts, Maria A. Sanchez tackles a central tension in global governance: how international human rights courts balance their mandates with the imperative to respect national sovereignty. Despite having similar mandates, the world's three regional human rights courts--the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights--interpret their authority differently, leading to uneven regional enforcement of global human rights principles.

Maria A. Sanchez traces how the geopolitical dynamics of each court's founding moments have manifested in contemporary disparities across the courts' jurisprudences--focusing on disputes involving freedom of expression, personal integrity rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Her findings expose a paradox: the courts that were founded in the most inhospitable environments for human rights have ended up asserting the most expansive authority over governments.

Deeply researched and insightful, Deference and Divergence in Regional Human Rights Courts speaks to when and how international institutions can leverage authority to intervene in domestic affairs.

About the Author

Maria Sanchez is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colorado College.