Global governance, international organisations, human rights and the transgovernmental politics of domestic compliance
Teaching Interests
International relations theory, international cooperation, international human rights institutions, global governance.
Background & Qualification
Joseph is an IRC funded doctoral student at the Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction at Dublin City University, supervised by Paola Rivetti and Kenneth McDonagh. He holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in International Politics from Trinity College Dublin where he specialised in the study of National Human Rights Institutions in the Middle East and North Africa. He also holds a BA (Hons.) from University College Dublin in History and International Politics.
Prior to starting his PhD, Joseph worked as a researcher at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (formerly known as the Irish Human Rights Commission) as part of the NHRI Capacity Development Partnership Project. He has also held senior positions working with non-governmental organisations in the Middle East, and as a consultant to the non-governmental sector in Ireland.
Research Topic
National Human Rights Institutions in the Middle East and North Africa.
Research Overview
Over the past three decades national human rights institutions have emerged in more than one hundred United Nations (UN) member states, including dozens of undemocratic states. Nine governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have created an NHRI as part of a worldwide trend, despite the resilience of authoritarianism and the persistence of rights violations in the region. NHRIs have recently gained growing attention as the missing link in the transmission of international human rights norms and their implementation at the domestic level. Despite their relevance to key processes of human rights protection and promotion at the international and domestic level, their potential contribution to human rights protection and promotion has been understudied.