Anja Mihr

Human Rights

International Human Rights norms and standards diffussed by and through Human Rights Education and Learning are key to aim for a resilient society and accountable mode of governance.

Global Human Rights is today’s glocal realization of human rights. Think global- act locally and thus individually in realizing human rights. Human rights are universally shared moral values, such as friendship, solidarity, fairness, respect, and trust, encompassing legal and political bindings instruments. One vital human rights instrument is the United Nations International Bill of Human Rights. Universal human rights norms aim to help us all, develop our capacities, and prevent us from any harm in the form of ill-treatment and discrimination that could prevent us from prospering.

One of the tools, means, and methods to empower individuals in human rights is Human Rights Education and Learning. The 2011 UN Declaration on Human Rights Education (HRE) encourages stakeholders and learners to disseminate human rights norms to equip people with knowledge and understanding. HRE aims to empower people in their awareness, attitudes, and behavior toward the mutual benefits of human rights compliance anywhere in the world.

Glocal Governance

The global meets the local, overall when international and universally accepts human rights norms are used as reference points in day-to-day practice by local communities and individuals, such as human rights defenders. This has dramatically changed modes of governance.

Glocal Governance is vertical governance based on consensus building, governmental governance is consultative even elective, and hierarchical. This no longer responds to the needs and challenges in the Anthropocene in which more and more individuals, communities and informal sectors take over governmental tasks and responsibilities. 

Glocal Fovernance is already practiced in different ways around the world. It is not the exception of governance when we look for solutions through CSO consultation, public-private partnership in public policy or when shifting gradually to multi-stakeholder modes to legitimize and authorize our decisions. The state becomes the periphery, it is sidelines and often unwilling or incapable to intervene. Global developments and movements, including the UN SDGs and rise of regional organizations, over the past three decades have side-lined the role of States

Regime Consolidation through Transitional Justice

Tranisitional Justice (TJ) measures and consolidation of political institutions somewhat interact in an up- and downward spiral over a longer period of time.  TJ measures can guide consolidation process, but the quality of democratic consolidation depends on whether these TJ measures are applied in an inclusive manner. The more inclusive, the more democratic the regime, the more exclusive, the more regime consolidation tends towards authoritarianism. The extent to which they do that depends on the interaction among political, civic or international actors and their respective institutions, i.e. parliaments, CSOs or international organizations.

TJ measures contribute to democratic consolidation in a way when there is a bottom-up and top-down approach aiming towards the same consolidation target, as seen in the case of West-Germany and Spain after a generation and more. TJ measures contribute to authoritarian regime consolidation if they are exclusively used by governments in a top-down approach and thus rather misused to manifest certain political or ideological power and status; and when civil society is excluded from using them to create their own narrative of justice of the past. This leads to a process of Transitology and subsequently a transition and transformation of political regimes.

Democracy & Liquid Governance

Liquid democracy, states, borders, and national constitutions alone cannot provide for the three basic needs of people, namely health, education, and a decent income to live a dignified life. Liquid borders hence is a concept aiming to overcome dysfunctional state institutions that can only govern people’s needs within territorial state borders, bound by it through their national constitutions and rules.