The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics

To commemorate International Human Rights Day, Dr. Kathryn Sikkink, Regents Professor and the McKnight Presidential Chair in Political Science at the University of Minnesota, will speak at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego on December 8 at 7 pm. She will discuss her latest book, The Justice Cascade:  How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics. The book, which builds on the idea of a “norm cascade” whereby standards established at the international level “cascade” down to the national level, marshals substantial empirical evidence in support of the idea that international prosecutions of national leaders accused of war crimes are actually changing the face of international politics by moving it in the direction of a more just order. 

As Dr. Sikkink pointed out in a New York Times opinion piece September 15, “Time is running out for former government officials accused of murder, genocide and crimes against humanity . . . Critics argue that the threat of prosecution leads dictators like Col. Muammar el_Qaddafi of Libya and Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan to entrench themselves in power rather than negotiate a transition to democracy. . .   [But] my research shows that transitional countries – those moving from authoritarian governments to democracy or from civil war to peace – where human rights prosecutions have taken place subsequently become less repressive than transitional countries without prosecutions, holding other factors constant.” 

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is organizing this event, co-sponsored by the United Nations Association–San Diego, Amnesty International–San Diego and the International Museum of Human Rights – in celebration of International Human Rights Day.  Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies Assistant Professor Dustin Sharp, J.D., will provide comments following Dr. Sikkink’s lecture.  The event takes place in the KIPJ Theatre. A book signing will follow the event.

The event is free and open to the public.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is among the Top 20 Best Private Schools for Making an Impact according to The Princeton Review. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.