What is it about?
This article examines how different dimensions of democratic backsliding affect different categories of children’s rights. It shows that erosion of liberal democracy is associated with weaker protection of children’s rights overall, while backsliding on the egalitarian dimension is linked to slight improvements in children’s social and economic rights. The study further demonstrates that governments backsliding on the liberal dimension react negatively to public criticism from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in contrast to non backsliding countries.
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Why is it important?
The article challenges the assumption that democratic backsliding uniformly undermines children’s rights. By distinguishing between liberal and egalitarian dimensions of democracy and between political and social economic rights, it provides a more nuanced account of how political change translates into rights outcomes. The findings help explain why some governments combine democratic erosion with selective social protection and show how backlash dynamics can further weaken international efforts to protect children’s rights.
Perspectives
This article is motivated by the fact that children’s rights occupy an ambiguous position in democratic theory. Unlike civil and political rights, they are largely non definitional to democracy, which makes them especially sensitive to shifts in how governments prioritize liberal versus egalitarian principles. By examining how different dimensions of democratic backsliding affect distinct categories of children’s rights, I seek to show how regimes can erode core democratic institutions while selectively maintaining or even expanding certain social protections. The study reflects a broader concern with how democratic decline reshapes rights that are politically less visible and normatively easier to trade off, particularly when international scrutiny triggers backlash rather than compliance.
Professor Sara Beth Kahn-Nisser
Open University of Israel
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Caught in the crossfire: Children’s rights under backsliding and backlash, Journal of Human Rights, January 2025, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14754835.2024.2443974.
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