How effective is EU’s human rights persuasion in its post-Soviet neighbourhood? Insights from a statistical assessment

Abstract

ABSTRACT When human rights abuse escalates, before using any other instrument, international actors first try to persuade abusive regimes to reverse their practices. While the effects of persuasion by the United Nationsand non-governmental organizations received scholarly attention, the effects of the European Union’s (EU’s) human rights persuasion on the subsequent situation have never been studied in a large-N study. Using a novel dataset accounting for 12 post-Soviet states over 20 years, the article shows that EU persuasion through resolutions issued by the European Parliament can trigger an improvement of a country’s human rights situation. Moreover, persuasion is context dependent – it is more impactful among states that have EU membership aspirations.