| Description |
1 online resource : illustrations, maps |
| Contents |
Introduction -- The organizational basis of constitutional rights protection -- Existing evidence -- The rise of rights constitutionalism -- Research methods -- Civil and political rights : free speech, the prohibition of torture, and the freedom of movement -- Social rights : the rights to education and healthcare -- Popular support for constitutional rights violations -- Freedom of religion -- Right to unionize -- Right to form political parties -- Conclusion |
| Summary |
"This Book explores whether constitutionalizing rights improves respect for those rights in practice. Drawing on global statistical analyses, survey experiments in Turkey and the U.S, and case studies in Colombia, Myanmar, Poland, Russia, and Tunisia, the book advances three claims. First, enshrining rights in constitutions does not automatically ensure that those rights will be respected. For rights to matter, rights violations need to be politically costly, which is the case when citizens punish the government for rights violations. Doing so, however, is often difficult to accomplish for unconnected groups of citizens. Second, some rights are easier to enforce than others. Specifically, some rights come with natural constituencies that can mobilize for their enforcement. This is the case for rights that are practiced by and within organizations, or "organizational rights," such as the rights to religious freedom, unionize, and form political parties. Because religious groups, trade unions and parties are highly organized, they are well-equipped to use the constitution to resist rights violations. As a result, these rights are systematically associated with better practices. By contrast, rights that are practiced on an individual basis, such as free speech or the prohibition of torture, often lack natural constituencies to enforce them, which makes it easier for governments to violate these rights. Third, even highly organized groups armed with the constitution may not be able to stop governments dedicated to rights-repression. When constitutional rights are enforced by dedicated organizations, they are thus best understood as speed bumps that slow down attempts at repression." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (EBSCOhost, viewed on August 25, 2020) |
| Subject |
Civil rights.
|
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Civil rights -- Interpretation and construction
|
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Constitutional law.
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Civil rights
|
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Civil rights -- Interpretation and construction
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Constitutional law
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Versteeg, Mila, 1983- author.
|
| LC no. |
2019037452 |
| ISBN |
9780190871482 |
|
0190871482 |
|
9780190871468 |
|
0190871466 |
|
0190871474 |
|
9780190871475 |
|
