Contentious Compliance

Do international human rights treaties stop governments from repressing their people? Contentious Compliance argues that governments violate rights as part of a conflict with potential or actual dissidents. By introducing dissent to a theory of repression, the book shows when states will violate rights-and when international laws will protect people. Formal theory and data analyses show that when political leaders have the greatest incentives to repress-when they benefit highly from holding power and domestic courts cannot stop them-human rights treaties alter the structure of the conflict between authorities and dissidents, decreasing repression and increasing dissent.