Introduction: Human rights, interdependence, and checks and balances in Global South politics

In a conflict environment, legal issues concerning human rights are of special interest, in particular the independence and the interdependence of the judiciary with the other branches of government, both nationally and internationally. The principles of the separation of powers and checks and balances are the foundation of the structure of government that protects liberty and human rights. This volume questions current concepts and norms concerning the human rights regime and focuses on governmentalism and the checks and balances process. This process is a critical feature of democracies. On the supranational level, IGOs (International Governmental Organizations) often serve as regulatory agencies, interdependent, and checking the authority of sovereign states. Interdependence implies the relationships between domestic rule of law, as it is represented and practiced by the organized force of the community using checks and balances. This book fills the existing gap in the study of human rights along the spectrum of transnational and national human rights institutions (NHRIs), and their practices and norms of human rights in the Global South. The case studies chosen for this book are from the Global South, and they examine the nexus between the different perspectives of the political and judicial constraints and opportunities, as they relate to, and are affected by, the national and transnational checks and balance systems.