Subnational Government and Compliance with European Human Rights Law

Compliance with international law has increasingly received the attention of scholars. While we have come far in understanding the politics of compliance, most literature looks at how states centrally comply with international law. Nevertheless, international law, at times, has relevance for subnational law and policy. This invites questions concerning how compliance with international law has implications for subnational governments. To what extent are subnational governments required to implement law and policy changes as a result of international law? If, when and how do subnational government comply with international law?  In this paper, we will explore these questions by looking at subnational governments in the context of European Human Rights Law. We will look at data from the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers monitoring of compliance with European Court of Human Rights decisions and measures adopted within member states to evaluate if, when and how subnational governments are crucial to understanding compliance with the European Convention of Human Rights.