PP1 comments


Case studies

·         Comparisons (justification)

·         Generalization

Other factors than HR omitted

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Does exist any “official” independent body for human rights guarantee?

See the discussion on levels of human rights protection – the “default” level is national, in
Europe also regional level seems functioning, the UN (universal level) is too politicized.

How the UN can guarantee that all States respect the commitments they took?

It does not… It has an institutional structure, the HR Council shall be the most important HR body,
but just take a look at its composition. The UN Commissioner for HR does a good job promoting HR.
Every major treaty also have its own body (usually called Committee) which is evaluating reports on
progress by states and sometimes even dealing with individual complaints.

How do                we need to perceive human rights?

As discussed – there is not one authoritative voice on HR foundations and content.

I wonder if there other historical or current changes where the spiral model could fit in?

See the table of contents of The Power of Human Rights, in those states, the model has usually fit
quite well.

Are there other effects than the Human Right principles that should have been taken into account
for the change in views of the people in communist countries?

Yes – economic lagging behind and political reforms in the second half of 1980s.

Would the Human Rights Principles have been enough to diminish the communist regimes over time if
there would not have been a change of regimes in Moscow?

See the previous answer + HR – on the precise influence and importance of each of these factors,
there is a disagreement, depending on if you believe more in power of money/hard power/ideas.

The deterioration of the Soviet economic system was well-known in Western countries, and parallel
to this the fact that no important change in Eastern Europe was possible without its consent; so
would a stronger pressure from Western countries on improvement of human rights in the Soviet Union
have been more rational in order to make changes?

That is debatable, countries in crisis become more unstable and less predictable, usually the
easiest way how to mobilize population is to find/create internal (typically whatever minority) or
external enemy (Russia in Ukraine).

How do the five levels in the spiral interact with each other? Thomas writes in his analysis that
the model moves down from one to five but also move up sometimes for example from phase four to 3.
How does the mechanism in the model work?

It has been a great attempt to capture the HR change, but unfortunately, the model does not capture
the reality completely. Also because of that, a new book was published recently (Persistent Power
of HR) which deals with some imperfections of the first edition.