The Geopolitics of Shaming: When Human Rights Pressure Works—and When It Backfires(Princeton Studies in International History and Politics)

A bold new perspective on the strategic logic of international human rights enforcement When a government violates the rights of its citizens, the international community can respond by exerting moral pressure and urging reform. Yet many of the most egregious violations appear to go unpunished. In many cases, shaming not only fails to induce compliance but also incites a backlash, provoking resistance and worsening human rights practices. The Geopolitics of Shaming presents a new theory on the strategic logic of international human rights enforcement, revealing why and how states punish violations in other countries, when shaming leads to an improvement in human rights conditions, and when it backfires. Drawing on a wide range of evidence-from large-scale cross-national data to original survey experiments and detailed case studies-Rochelle Terman shows how human rights shaming is a deeply political process, one that operates in and through strategic relationships. Arguing that preexisting geopolitical relationships condition both the causes and consequences of shaming in world politics, she shows how adversaries are quick to condemn human rights abuses but often provoke a counterproductive response, while friends and allies are the most effective shamers but can be reluctant to impose meaningful sanctions. Upending conventional wisdom on the role of norms in world affairs, The Geopolitics of Shaming demonstrates that politicization is integral to-not a corruption of-the success of the global human rights project.

About the Author :
Rochelle Terman is assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

Review :
"Winner of the Best Book Award, International Collaboration Section of the American Political Science Association" "Winner of the Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award, American Political Science Association" "Winner of the Best Book Award, Foreign Policy Section of the American Political Science Association" "Winner of the Lepgold Prize, Georgetown University" "Terman breaks important ground in illuminating when, how, and under what conditions states engage in ‘naming and shaming’ other countries to punish them for human rights transgressions . . . [She] does not deny the importance of upholding human rights standards, but she does demonstrate quite elegantly that politics and state interests lurk at every turn."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs "Rochelle Terman establishes a new theoretical approach to examine when shaming improves human rights conditions, when it is ineffective and when it is counterproductive. . . . An invaluable contribution."---Serena Clark, International Affairs "A solid basis in which to interrogate shaming and think through its impacts – [The Geopolitics of Shaming] is thus a necessary read for policymakers and activists alike."---Usman Butt, Middle East Monitor "[The Geopolitics of Shaming] challenges conventional wisdom on the role of norms in world affairs and demonstrates that politicization is integral to the success of the global human rights project. . . . For human rights promoters, this study provides a warning on the potential risks of shaming. The key insight is that, when it comes to enforcing human rights, the critic matters as much as (and perhaps more than) the criticism."---Zheng Chen, China International Strategy Review "A valuable contribution to our understanding of human rights enforcement in the international arena."---Brett J. Kyle, International Dialogue "An important book about the efficacy of human rights shaming. . . . [The Geopolitics of Shaming] makes a fine contribution not only to the scholarly discussion of human rights shaming in international relations, but it is also a meaningful addition to our understanding of why and how shaming can have an effect on interstate behaviour."---Mark Weston Janis, Netherlands International Law Review