Interlocking regimes and the protection of human rights in Europe

Over the past five decades, the European human rights protection system has evolved from a traditional, relatively weak treaty system into a supranational, multilayered protection system. Today, common European standards of human rights protection govern the behavior of national actors as well as supranational institutions, including the European Community. Individuals can seek redress for violations of common European human rights norms at three levels: (1) the national level, i.e. in national courts; (2) the international level, i.e. the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg; (3) the supranational level, i.e. in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.; In my dissertation, I identify two mechanisms that have contributed significantly to the development of an integrated system of human rights protection in Europe: (1) the dynamic case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg; (2) institutional interlocking between the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Community (EC). I analyze the political and legal conditions under which these two mechanisms operate.; Using regression analysis, I examine the effect of four variables---state acceptance of the right to individual petition and the compulsory jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, incorporation of the ECHR into domestic law, and reception of ECHR norms by national courts---on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. I find that state acceptance of the European Court of Human Rights, and of the right to individual petition, as well as incorporation of the ECHR into domestic law have significantly affected the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. I then analyze the political and legal conditions for institutional interlocking between the ECHR and the EC. I argue that institutional interlocking has been conditioned by vertical legal cooperation between the ECJ and national courts, on the one hand, and horizontal legal cooperation between the ECJ and the European Court of Human Rights, on the other hand.; Based on my findings, I suggest that traditional political and legal analyses of the process of integration in Europe that have focused primarily on patterns of governance within the institutional framework of the EC and its member states, should be extended to include international regimes outside the EC framework. I further suggest that Europe and the contemporary process of integration in Europe should be conceptualized as a system of complex governance.