Authoritarian Collusion at International Organizations. How autocracies undermine human rights internationally

In recent years, authoritarian activism at the international stage seems to have increased. While human rights have always been contested by authoritarian regimes, democratic backsliding and authoritarian resilience mean that membership in international organizations has undergone shifts that have weakened coalitions pushing for expansion of human rights regimes. Authoritarian regimes are particularly skilled at flying under the radar. Instead of outright attacking human rights, autocracies rather collude to undermine the work of IOs. This paper explores how authoritarian networks manage to hinder the work of critical non-state actors by shifting discourse, delaying accreditation, or supplanting them with co-opted groups. The paper first conceptualizes the concept of authoritarian network which is understood as informal coalitions of IO member states. The paper then uses several case studies of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the ECOSOC NGO Committee, as well as the UN Security Council Sanction Committee to show the effects that authoritarian networks have had for the work of critical non-state actors. It thereby adds to current literature on the contestation of human rights and our understanding of concrete hallenges that authoritarian regimes pose for international law.