Emilie M. Hafner-Burton is a professor in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation. She is the author of Forced to Be Good and recipient of the Karl Deutsch Award.

A Winner of the 2015 ISA Annual Best Book Award, International Studies Association "Over the last 60 years, the international community has constructed a global human rights system, embodied in an expanding array of principles, declarations, treaties, courts, and transnationally organized lawyers and activists. Yet, as Hafner-Burton makes clear in this important book, the system's aspirations have far outstripped its ability to enforce international law and protect norms."--Foreign Affairs "The book exemplifies exactly what I am training my doctoral students to do in their writing projects: instead of creating a research design of their own, to review existing scholarship to arrive at an empirically-informed argument relevant to policy-makers that challenges existing wisdom or weighs in constructively in a debate... Hafner-Burton's call for human rights scholarship to be useful to steward states and for steward states to pay attention, resonates loud and clear."--Charli Carpenter, Duck of Minerva "Hafner-Burton effectively bridges the worlds of scholarship and practice in developing a compelling, informed, and accessible argument regarding how to promote global human rights more effectively. This fantastic book makes meaningful contributions to the academic study of human rights and also offers a compelling vision of a practical strategy for advancing human rights that should be of interest to policymakers and practitioners. Ultimately, Hafner-Burton offers a clear-headed and compelling argument in this highly readable book that should be of interest to anyone committed to making human rights a reality."--Debra L. DeLaet, International Dialogue

• Preface ix Research xiii Introduction xv 1 The Problem of Human Rights 1 Part I The Calculus of Abuse 19 2 Contexts 21 3 Rationales 29 Part II International Law 41 4 The International Human Rights Legal System 44 5 Scholarly Perspectives 67 6 Practitioner Perspectives 86 7 System Reform 116 Part III A Stewardship Strategy 135 8 The Status Quo 138 9 Nongovernmental Organizations 151 10 National Human Rights Institutions 164 11 Triage 176 12 Making More of Law and Power 193 Notes 199 Index 267