Part E: States and Other Actors in the Regime

Chapter 14:
Social Movements and Civil Society

This book is replete with illustrations of the many ways in which social movements, civil society, non-governmental organizations and an array of activists and advocates have helped shape the international human rights regime. They have invariably been the prime movers in pushing governments, international organizations, corporations and others to take greater account of human rights, and they have succeeded in imposing forms of accountability that go well beyond the formal institutional arrangements that are the focus of preceding chapters. But in an era of increasing autocratization, these movements are the targets of ever-greater repression, which is taking new and innovative forms.