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M ongolia's Political Change and Human Rights in Five‐Phase Spiral Model: Implications for N orth K orea
Author(s) -
Heo Manho
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pacific focus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1976-5118
pISSN - 1225-4657
DOI - 10.1111/pafo.12037
Subject(s) - human rights , political science , politics , regime change , democratization , denial , political economy , sociology , democracy , law , psychology , psychoanalysis
This study examines the changes in M ongolia's human rights policy in relation to its political change, using the “five‐phase spiral model” proposed by T homas R isse and colleagues, which offers a framework to explain the process whereby repressive governments adopt human rights. As a result, my findings clarify the theoretical relevance and deviance of the model in the case of M ongolia, while identifying possible implications for the case of N orth K orea. According to the model, the process whereby international human rights norms are internalized and affect domestic institutional change requires sustained pressure from bilateral and multilateral networks on the repressive government in the first and second phases to induce policy changes in the third phase, “tactical concessions.” I examine the extent to which M ongolia followed such a process, along with the role of its regime change as a requisite for its successive move from the third to the fourth phase, “prescriptive status.” When M ongolian human rights policy moved from the second phase, “denial,” to the third phase, transnational human rights networks were not dominant actors. Yet, clear changes in human rights occurred in the aftermath of the regime change, suggesting that this transition was, indeed, a prerequisite. As to whether the change in the M ongolian government's human rights policy was also a result of “boomerang effects” brought about by a developed civil society and transnational networks, the effects were found to be reserved under the socialist regime, yet positive after democratization. Therefore, the M ongolian experience suggests the need for an engagement policy with N orth K orea, based on its significantly extended “second social sphere,” in order to facilitate a civil society and social networks, democratization of the governing party, and the emergence of a moderate government in N orth K orea with a self‐sacrificing supreme leader like J ambyn B atmonkh.