Regulatory networks and regional human rights governance: A study of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions
| Author | Corina Lacatus |
| DOI | 10.1177/00471178211052880 |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178211052880
International Relations
2022, Vol. 36(2) 192 –213
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00471178211052880
journals.sagepub.com/home/ire
Regulatory networks and
regional human rights
governance: A study of the
European Network of National
Human Rights Institutions
Corina Lacatus
Queen Mary University of London
Abstract
Transnational regional networks of regulatory bodies play a prominent role in complex systems
of human rights governance. Despite their growing importance, we still have much to learn
about the roles regional networks play as regulatory stewards in the field of human rights. I
draw on the literature about regulatory stewardship to analyse a recently formalised regulatory
network operating in Europe – the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions.
The analysis proposes a model of global governance for human rights that includes networks of
national human rights institutions as intermediaries. Moreover, it draws on some of the main
concepts of network analysis to assesses the European network’s development into a ‘network
administrative organisation’ and applies the model of regulatory stewardship to analyse the
institutional network’s use of hierarchical and managerial stewardship to: support its member
institutions; stimulate intra-network communication and learning; gain access to international
networks; and to shape the regional human rights agenda.
Keywords
Europe, human rights governance, intermediary stewardship, national human rights institutions,
regional networks
Regulatory networks are increasingly important actors in global and regional arenas.
Organised in communities centred on shared technical interests and common areas of
practice, networks can play a role at all stages of policy innovation, especially within
Corresponding author:
Corina Lacatus, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End
Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
Email: c.lacatus@qmul.ac.uk
1052880IRE0010.1177/00471178211052880International RelationsLacatus
research-article2021
Article
Lacatus 193
specialised sectors such as finance, environment, or human rights.1 They can offer inno-
vative solutions and causal explanations for policy choices and support governments to
identify their preferences and interests. Networks can be a valuable source of informa-
tion and mediation between international and regional regulators, such as the United
Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) and national governments as targets of
international policy and often are successful in influencing the form and content of
national and regional policy outcomes.
The realm of human rights promotion and protection is no exception. In recent dec-
ades, the human rights regime has transformed to accommodate a dense network of state
and non-state actors that operate through increasingly complex relationships at the bilat-
eral, multilateral, regional, and trans-governmental level. Existing scholarship has pro-
vided ample evidence about the important role that regulatory networks have played in
the diffusion of human rights norms across borders, shaping these norms and supporting
the efforts to monitor their implementation.2 Transnational networks, such as the Global
Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and its regional counterparts
offer good examples, as they are network-based regulatory structures made up of national
regulatory bodies mandated to promote and protect human rights – national human rights
institutions (NHRIs) – that have been key to the continued development of their institu-
tional members. NHRIs and their peer networks function as intermediaries in a global
order in which, generally, international and regional (in Europe) organisations are the
main international regulators of international human rights law and national govern-
ments are primary targets showing different degrees of compliance international law.
In recent decades, NHRIs have become increasingly important institutional actors in
Europe. Described as ‘domestic non-judicial institution[s] for the implementation of
human rights law’,3 NHRIs are regulatory intermediaries4 that serve to embed interna-
tional norms in local structures.5 As the primary independent domestic bodies charged
with the implementation of international human rights treaties ratified by governments,6
human rights ombudsmen and human rights commissions play the dual role of promot-
ing and protecting rights at the national level. NHRIs are key to countries’ efforts to
address adequately a range of rights-related issues like the protection and promotion of
fundamental rights, social and political rights.
In recent years, NHRIs in Europe have organised to formalise the development of a
consolidated regional network of peer bodies, the European Network of National Human
Rights Institutions (ENNHRI). Founded in 1994, the European Group of NHRIs met
irregularly until 2002 under the auspices of the Council of Europe (CoE) and relied on its
administrative and financial support to continue its informal activity. The network con-
solidated its powers and formalised its centralised administration in an international con-
text in which resistance to human rights has been on the rise and funding cuts to human
rights institutions are commonplace. What explains the recent rapid development of
ENNHRI as a regional regulatory network of human rights institutions in a global con-
text that is increasingly less favourable to human rights?
To address this question, I turn to the recent International Relations scholarship on
regulatory stewardship. Defined as ‘the assignment of mutual-monitoring and support
responsibilities among intermediaries themselves, with the goal of safeguarding against
capture and enhancing performance’,7 stewardship occurs in regulatory systems with
To continue reading
Request your trial