ABSTRACT
The conviction that the human rights practices of one state are the business of another is something of a heresy in international politics. The classic international system as it emerged in post-Renaissance Europe embodied the idea that states are fully self-contained, independent, and sovereign entities whose domestic affairs are to be protected from any outside interference. The purview of international politics always has extended beyond the state system, however, and this classic model has never fully captured the competing principles and myriad additional factors of international security. Only in the second half of the twentieth century have states attempted to universalize the notion that human rights practices in one state are the legitimate concern of all. In the post-World War II era, the emergence of profound ideological conflict between East and West, together with a significant military dimension, reshaped thinking about the connection between human rights practices and international security.
