The Domestic Politics of International Human Rights Law: Implementing the Convention of the Rights of the Child in Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina

Abstract

Human rights treaties are not automatically and unequivocally internalized in domestic politics: there is gap between treaty ratification and domestic implementation, even in democracies, that is at present under-conceptualized. This gap can be understood as a process during which a domestic translation of global norms occurs. The dynamics of translation are shaped by a form of politics which we term compliance politics. We argue that it is crucial to analyze the specificities of compliance politics in order to understand the particular way global norms translate into domestic legislation and policies. We focus here on three variables that shape compliance politics in democracies: 1) the sincerity of the state with regard to ratification; 2) the strength, scope and make-up of the compliance coalition; and 3) and the degree of ideological conflict around the global rights norm at the domestic level. Using evidence from three Latin American countries (Ecuador, Argentina and Chile) after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this article shows how different paths toward implementation unfolded in each case.