Description
Book SynopsisHow do states violate human rights norms after legalization? Why are these violations so persistent? What are the limits of legalization for protecting human rights norms? Conventional wisdom offers a variety of answers to these questions, but most often they conflate laws and norms and focus only on state actions that violate both. While this focus is undoubtedly valuable, it does not capture cases in which states violate human rights norms without technically violating the law. Norm breakers are not necessarily lawbreakers. Focusing exclusively on norm violations that are illegal obscures the possibility that agents could violate norms in a legal manner, engaging in actions that are awful but lawful.
Presenting rich case studies of the French expulsion of Roma immigrants from 2007 to 2017 and the Czech segregation of Roma children in schools for those with mild mental disabilities between 1993 and 2017, Evading International Norms argues that the violation of human rig
Trade Review
A compelling and insightful book…Evading International Norms sheds new light on the urgent and understudied problem of racial discrimination against the Roma in Europe. The book also contains broader theoretical, empirical, and practical insights for interdisciplinary research on the relationship between international laws and international norms… The book deserves to be read by legal scholars and practicing lawyers interested in racial discrimination, human rights, and the limits of international laws and institutions to effectuate social change. * American Journal of International Law *
Zoltán I. Búzás successfully demonstrates how states use law to violate norms with reference to the Roma in Europe, and in doing so, shows that we have too often conflated norms and laws, looking only at practices that violate both, while ignoring the ways in which states may nominally comply with laws while violating the norms on which they are based. Evading International Norms is not only a brilliant contribution to our understanding of international law and norms but also an empirical contribution to the literature on race and international relations. * Charli Carpenter, University of Massachusetts-Amherst *
In Evading International Norms, Zoltán I. Búzás develops a new theory of norm evasion, exploring how and under what conditions states evade international legal norms, and tests his theory with two meticulously conducted case studies that provide new and important insights into the role of race and the rights of the Roma in international relations. The book is original, rigorous, and will have a clear and well-deserved impact on multiple fields of scholarship and public policy. * Mark Pollack, Temple University *
Table of Contents
Part I. Background and Theory
Chapter 1. After Legalization: The Persistent Violation of International Human Rights Norms
Chapter 2. A Theory of Norm Evasion
Part II. France and Roma Immigration
Chapter 3. Choosing Norm Evasion: The French Expulsion of Roma Immigrants
Chapter 4. Constructing French Expulsions as Norm Evasion
Part III. The Czech Republic and Roma Education
Chapter 5. Choosing Norm Evasion: The Czech Segregation of Roma Children in "Special Schools"
Chapter 6. Constructing Czech Special School Segregation as Norm Evasion
Chapter 7. International Relations at the Intersection of Laws and Norms
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
