University of Cincinnati

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 11-Dec-2009 I, Marjon E. Kamrani , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science It is entitled: "Keeping the Faith in Global Civil Society: Illiberal Democracy and the Cases of Reproductive Rights and Trafficking" Student Signature: This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Anne Runyan, PhD Laura Jenkins, PhD Joel Wolfe, PhD 3/3/2010 305 Keeping the Faith in Global Civil Society: Illiberal Democracy and the Cases of Reproductive Rights and Trafficking A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science of the College of Arts and Science by Marjon Kamrani M.A., M.P.A. University of Texas B.A. Miami University March 2010 Committee Chair: Anne Sisson Runyan, Ph.D ABSTRACT What constitutes global civil society? Are liberal assumptions about the nature of civil society as a realm autonomous from and balancing the power of the state and market transferrable to the global level? Does global civil society necessarily represent and/or result in the promotion of liberal values? These questions guided my dissertation which attempts to challenge dominant liberal conceptualizations of global civil society. To do so, it provides two representative case studies of how domestic and transnational factions of the Religious Right, acting in concert with (or as agents of) the US state, and the political opportunity structures it has provided under conservative regimes, gain access to global policy-making forums through a reframing of international human rights discourses and practices pertaining particularly to women’s rights in order to shift them in illiberal directions. The study investigates the ways liberal international human rights regimes, which are commonly seen as representative of an emerging liberal global civil society separate from and acting as a check on state power, are particularly vulnerable to contestations involving value orientations that challenge liberal conceptions of human rights and liberal feminist conceptions of women’s human rights. The concept of women’s human rights gained ascendancy in global policy-making through the development of transnational feminist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the 1970s onward. Such NGOs fit the liberal model of global civil society actors operating separate from state apparatuses to check human rights abuses enabled by states. By the 1990s, however, domestic and transnational Religious Right NGOs began to emerge, with significant financial and ideological state support, to explicitly counter liberal feminist constructions of women’s human rights. The dissertation uses secondary historical studies, primary NGO, governmental, and intergovernmental organization (IGO) documents, and structuralist social movement analysis that focuses on framing through discourse and political opportunity structures and is informed by feminist constructivist approaches in International Relations. My case studies of Religious Right NGOs engaged in pro-family and anti-sex trafficking campaigns under the rubric of women’s human rights reveal that: 1) the elasticity of human rights discourse makes it attractive for all manner of political claims by all manner of political groups, including illiberal ones; 2) the entry of the Religious Right as a human rights regime does not fit the prevailing model of global civil society in that it is heavily state-supported financially and ideologically nor does it make its human rights claims on the basis of liberal individualist principles; and, thus, 3) international human rights norms are becoming less the result of some alternative, autonomous, unified, and liberal-progressive “third space” that counters the state and more subject to strong alliances of conservative groups and states. This dissertation, theoretically and empirically, puts into question assumptions about the necessarily liberalizing nature of global civil society. It does this by uncovering how power operates within global civil society among NGOs as a result of their differential relations to the power of states and how these power differentials enable certain human rights frames to becomes dominant over others. ii iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If I am able to shed any new light and bring to the field an additional perspective on global civil society, human rights, liberal democracy, and women’s rights, it is in large part due to my committee members. They have served as advisors, teachers, mentors, and cherished friends throughout my graduate school career. My chair, Dr. Anne Sisson Runyan, urged me to think critically and refused careless theorizing. Her hard work and commitment to Feminist International Relations motivated me on the most difficult of days. Sitting in her university office or home office, Anne’s work ethic and creativity in thinking served as an inspiration both in this dissertation and in life. Dr. Joel Wolfe offered me not only expertise in the discipline of political science but engaged me to think openly about the diversity of political theories and foundations from which to work. His graduate seminar, The Philosophy of Science was critical to this dissertation and also changed my outlook on the study of politics. Many conversations over coffee stimulated new thoughts on this project. Dr. Laura Jenkins always brought a fresh and thoughtful perspective to this work. Her continual positive energy and attention to detail were keys to getting the dissertation finished in a relatively timely manner. I am also indebted to all those who approached this subject well before I did. I have learned so much from scholars, critics and others who have devoted their lives to studying democracy, women’s rights, feminist theory, and human rights. This dissertation would not have been possible without financial support from the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Political Science and the Charles Phelps Taft Dissertation Fellowship. I am also thankful for the strength and longevity of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Women’s Studies and its funding for various conferences. I thank all of these institutional bodies for their support in my interdisciplinary endeavors. I would like to thank my parents, Ramiz and Marty Kamrani for supporting me throughout all of my years in graduate school and providing me not only with mental and emotional sustenance but also financial backing. No matter how perplexed they were by this project or the ins and outs of doctoral work, they encouraged me to pursue my passions and dreams. I’d also like to thank various teachers and scholars that have influenced me throughout the years. I would like to thank: Faegheh Shirazi, Victoria Rodriguez, Richard Harknett, and Ramon Layera. Finally, I’d like to thank all the friends and even “foes” who I met along the way. From those who were inquisitive about my research to those who told me this was “not real political science,” you have pushed me to make this a richer, stronger, and more substantive dissertation. Thank you! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .…. .………………………………………………………...iv I. Introduction…………………………………………………………….........................6 II. Global Civil Society Revisited: Analyzing Theories of and Power Within Global Civil Society ………………..............69 III. Reproduction and Women’s Human Rights ……………………….........................119 IV. Sex Trafficking and Women’s Human Rights ………………………......................190 V. Legislating Against Rights: Global Civil Society As Illiberal Democracy…………………………………………..251 VI. Conclusion: Countering Illiberal Democracy in Global Civil Society ……………………………...292 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………...……………………………………………………………319 ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………….357 v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION What constitutes global civil society? Are liberal assumptions about the nature of civil society as a realm autonomous from and balancing the power of the state and market transferrable to the global level? Does global civil society correct for the “democratic deficit” identified at the level of global governance? Does global civil society necessarily represent and/or result in the promotion of liberal values? What are the implications of the promotion of illiberal values in the name of global civil society for global civil society theorizing and praxis? These questions guide my dissertation which seeks to problematize dominant liberal conceptualizations of global civil society through an examination of two case studies of how domestic and transnational factions of the Religious Right, acting in concert with (or as agents of) the state, gain access to global policymaking forums through a cooptation of international human rights (IHR) discourses and practices to shift them in non-progressive directions. My central argument is that dominant liberal constructions of and assumptions about global civil society are not just partial, incomplete, and utopian, but more importantly inadvertently enable illiberal democracy. Liberal IHR regimes posit that individuals, regardless of where they reside in the world and regardless of their (non)citizenship in any given state, have universal and inalienable political and civil rights that protect them from state and other repression. This study investigates the way these liberal IHR regimes are particularly vulnerable at 6 the global

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