Comment by maconic

I think the pragmatic answer is that unless the country cares about the stick (sanctions, tariffs, military conflict) or the carrot (financial aid, access to markets, military alliances), you can't do anything. How long have we been talking about human rights in China... 1989? They don't care, and why should they? It works better in smaller countries that are easier to isolate like North Korea or Venezuela, but even there it doesn't work great if a larger country like Russia or China is willing to support them. Beyond that, it's just symbolic gestures like expelling diplomats or lodging protests with the ambassador.