When is the pen truly mighty? Regime type and the efficacy of naming and shaming in curbing human rights abuses

British Journal of Political Science

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 651-672

  Hendrix, Cullen S ^a   Wong, Wendy H ^b  

^a Dept of Economics and Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy at the College of William and Mary   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84878722768     PISSN: 00071234     EISSN: 14692112     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007123412000488     Document Type: Article

References (133)

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14. Shareen Hertel, Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change Among Transnational Activists (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2006).
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16. Emilie Hafner-Burton, 'Sticks and Stones: Naming and Shaming the Human Rights Enforcement Problem', International Organization, 62 (2008), 689-716.
17. For example, the awarding of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize to Amnesty International for its work in Argentina.
18. This comes from studies on human rights scores (see Stephen C. Poe and C. Neal Tate, 'Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis', American Political Science Review, 88 (1994), 853-72)
19. human rights treaty ratification and compliance (see Beth A. Simmons, Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009)), and the values that are usually associated with (especially liberal) democracies: respect for individual freedoms and restrictions on incursions by the state.
20. Keck and Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders;
21. Eric Neumayer, 'Do International Human Rights Treaties Improve Respect for Human Rights?' Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49 (2005), 925-53;
22. Franklin, 'Shame on You'.
23. Neil J. Mitchell and James McCormick, 'Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations', World Politics, 40 (1988), 476-98;
24. Poe and Tate, 'Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s
25. Stephen C. Poe, C. Neal Tate and Linda Camp Keith, 'Repression of the Human Right to Personal Integrity Revisited: A Global Cross-National Study Covering the Years 1976-1993', International Studies Quarterly, 43 (1999), 291-313;
26. Stephen C. Poe, Nicolas Rost and Sabine C. Carey, 'Assessing Risk and Opportunity in Conflict Studies', Journal of Conflict Resolution, 50 (2006), 484-507.
27. David L. Cingranelli and David L. Richards, 'Respect for Human Rights after the End of the Cold War', Journal of Peace Research, 36 (1999), 511-34;
28. Christian Davenport and David A. Armstrong II, 'Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis from 1976 to 1996', American Journal of Political Science, 48 (2004), 538-54.
29. Helen Fein, 'Life-integrity Violations and Democracy in the World, 1987', Human Rights Quarterly, 17 (1995), 170-91;
30. Patrick M. Regan and Errol A. Henderson, 'Democracy, Threats and Political Repression in Developing Countries: Are Democracies Internally Less Violent?' Third World Quarterly, 23 (2002), 119-36.
31. Davenport and Armstrong, 'Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights
32. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Feryal Marie Cherif, George W. Downs and Alastair Smith, 'Thinking Inside the Box: A Closer Look at Democracy and Human Rights', International Studies Quarterly, 49 (2005), 439-58.
33. Andrew Moravscik, 'The Origins of Human Rights Regimes: Democratic Delegation in Postwar Europe', International Organization, 54 (2000), 217-52.
34. For expansion on the latter point, see Christian Davenport, 'Human Rights and the Democratic Proposition', Journal of Conflict Studies, 43 (1999), 92-116.
35. Hafner-Burton and Ron, 'Seeing Double', 360-401.
36. Kathryn Sikkink, 'Human Rights, Principled Issue-Networks, and Sovereignty in Latin America', International Organization, 47 (1993), 411-41;
37. Richard Price, 'Transnational Civil Society and Advocacy in World Politics', World Politics, 55 (2003), 579-606.
38. Hafner-Burton, 'Sticks and Stones'.
39. Jacqueline DeMeritt, 'International Organizations and Government Killing: Does Naming and Shaming Save Lives?' International Interactions, forthcoming.
40. Howard Ramos, James Ron and Oskar N. T. Thoms, 'Shaping the Northern Media's Human Rights Coverage, 1986-2000', Journal of Peace Research, 44 (2007), 385-406.
41. Christine Min Wotipka and Kiyoteru Tsutsui, 'Global Human Rights and State Sovereignty: State Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties, 1965-2001', Sociological Forum, 23 (2008), 724-54
42. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton and Kiyoteru Tsutsui, 'Human Rights in a Globalizing World: The Paradox of Empty Promises', American Journal of Sociology, 110 (2005), 1373-411;
43. Neumayer, 'Do International Human Rights Treaties Improve Respect for Human Rights?
44. Ann Florini, The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000).
45. Robert Hayden, 'Dictatorship of Virtue? States, NGOs, and the Imposition of Democratic Values', Harvard International Review, 24 (2002), 56-61.
46. Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (New York: Anchor, 2000);
47. Clair Apodaca. 'The Whole World Could Be Watching: Human Rights and the Media', Journal of Human Rights, 6 (2007), 147-64.
48. Jennifer Whitten-Woodring, 'Watchdog or Lapdog? Media Freedom, Regime Type, and Government Respect for Human Rights', International Studies Quarterly, 53 (2009), 595-625.
49. Keck and Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders;
50. Wade M. Cole, 'No News Is Good News: Human Rights Coverage in the American Print Media, 1980-2000', Journal of Human Rights, 9 (2010), 303-25.
51. Cole, 'No News Is Good News'.
52. Risse, Ropp and Sikkink, The Power of Human Rights.
53. Jon Pevehouse and Bruce Russett, 'Democratic International Governmental Organizations Promote Peace', International Organization, 60 (2006), 969-1000;
54. Jeffrey T. Checkel, 'Why Comply? Social Learning and European Identity Change', International Organization, 55 (2001), 553-88;
55. Brian Greenhill, 'The Company You Keep: International Socialization and the Diffusion of Human Rights Norms', International Studies Quarterly, 54 (2010), 127-45.
56. Alexandra Gheciu, 'Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the ''New Europe''', International Organization, 59 (2005), 973-1012.
57. See Jeffrey Checkel, 'International Institutions and Socialization in Europe: Introduction and Framework', International Organization, 59 (2005), 801-26.
58. David L. Cingranelli and Thomas E. Pasquarello, 'Human Rights Practices and the Distribution of U.S. Foreign Aid to Latin American Countries', American Journal of Political Science, 29 (1985), 539-63;
59. Clair Apodaca and Michael Stohl, 'United States Human Rights Policy and Foreign Assistance', International Studies Quarterly, 43 (1999), 185-98;
60. Clair Apodaca, 'Global Economic Patterns and Personal Integrity Rights after the Cold War', International Studies Quarterly, 45 (2001), 587-602.
61. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Forced To Be Good: Why Trade Agreements Boost Human Rights (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2009).
62. Oona Hathaway, 'Why Do Countries Commit to Human Rights Treaties?' Journal of Conflict Resolution 51 (2007), 588-621;
63. James R. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights: Why Dictatorships Enter into the United Nations Convention Against Torture', International Organization, 62 (2008), 65-101;
64. Simmons, Mobilizing for Human Rights.
65. Andrew P. Cortell and James W. Davis, 'How Do International Institutions Matter? The Domestic Impact of International Rules and Norms', International Studies Quarterly, 40 (1996), 451-78;
66. Jeffrey T. Checkel, 'Norms, Institutions, and National Identity in Contemporary Europe', International Studies Quarterly, 43 (1999), 84-114.
67. Xinyuan Dai, 'Why Comply? The Domestic Constituency Mechanism', International Organization, 59 (2005), 363-98.
68. Todd Landman, 'The Political Science of Human Rights', British Journal of Political Science, 35 (2005), 549-72.
69. Simmons, Mobilizing for Human Rights.
70. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights'.
71. For an example, see Leonard Wantchekon and Andrew Healy, 'The ''Game'' of Torture', Journal of Conflict Resolution, 43 (1999), 596-609.
72. 'Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions' (see United Nations, United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (New York: Codification Division, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, 1984).
73. UN, United Nations Convention against Torture.
74. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights'.
75. James Ron, 'Varying Methods of State Violence', International Organization, 51 (1997), 275-300.
76. Christian Davenport, State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007);
77. Courtenay Ryals Conrad and Will H. Moore, 'What Stops Torture?' American Journal of Political Science, 54 (2010), 459-76.
78. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights'.
79. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights', p. 69.
80. Monty G. Marshall, Keith Jaggers and Ted Robert Gurr, Dataset Users' Manual - Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2010 (Vienna, Va.: Political Instability Task Force, Centre for Sustainable Peace, 2010), pp. 26-7.
81. See Bueno de Mesquita, Cherif, Downs and Smith, 'Thinking Inside the Box', as they find that multilevel, competitive elections affect human rights abuses more than other factors.
82. For a methodological summary of the PFI, see Reporters Without Borders, Worldwide Press Freedom Index, 2009: How the Index Was Compiled (Paris: Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom, 2009).
83. For discussions of human rights as a component of opposition platforms in South Africa, Ghana and South America's Southern Cone countries, see Jeremy Sarkin, 'The Development of a Human Rights Culture in South Africa', Human Rights Quarterly, 20 (1998), 628-55;
84. Mike Oquaye, 'The Ghanaian Elections of 1992 - A Dissenting View', African Affairs, 94 (1995), 259-75;
85. David Pion-Berlin, 'To Prosecute or Pardon? Human Rights Decisions in the Latin American Southern Cone', Human Rights Quarterly, 15 (1994), 105-30, respectively.
86. Keck and Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders;
87. Amanda Murdie, David R. Davis and Coty Garnett, 'Makers and Shapers: Human Rights INGOs and Public Opinion', Human Rights Quarterly, 34 (2012), 199-224.
88. Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict (New York: Norton: 2000);
89. Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder, Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005).
90. Mansfield and Snyder, Electing to Fight.
91. Vreeland, 'Political Institutions and Human Rights'.
92. Fein, 'Life-integrity Violations and Democracy in the World, 1987
93. Regan and Henderson, 'Democracy, Threats and Political Repression'.
94. This link between Uribe's hardline stance on stopping insurgents and all potential critics of the regime is made explicit in AI's reporting during this period. See Amnesty International, 'Colombia: Government Gives ''Green Light'' to Attacks against Human Rights Activists', Amnesty International Press Release, AMR 23/038/2006 (2006);
95. Amnesty International, 'Colombia: Constitutional Reform Undermines Human Rights', Amnesty International Press Release, AMR 23/077/2003 (2003);
96. Amnesty International, 'Colombia: Time to Make the Right Choice for Human Rights', Amnesty International Press Release, AMR 23/082/2002 (2002).) A number of other NGOs wrote collectively to Uribe to demand respect for human rights activists and activity, including Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First.
97. Washington Office on Latin America, Joint Letter to President Uribe, March 25, 2008 (Washington, D.C.: Washington Office on Latin America, 2008).
98. Daniel Wilkinson, 'Death and Drugs in Colombia', New York Review of Books (2 June 2011);
99. Davenport, State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace, makes a similar claim.
100. Cingranelli and Richards, 'Respect for Human Rights'.
101. Freedom House, Freedom in the World (Washington, D.C.: Freedom House, 2010).
102. Marshall, Jaggers and Gurr, Polity IV Project.
103. As coded by Ramos, Ron and Thoms, 'Shaping the Northern Media's Human Rights Coverage, 1986-2000
104. updated by Hafner-Burton, 'Sticks and Stones'.
105. As coded by James Ron, Howard Ramos and Kathleen Rodgers, 'Transnational Information Politics: NGO Human Rights Reporting, 1986-2000', International Studies Quarterly, 49 (2005), 557-88;
106. updated by Hafner-Burton, 'Sticks and Stones'.
107. Kristian S. Gleditsch, 'Expanded Trade and GDP Data', Journal of Conflict Resolution, 46 (2002), 712-24.
108. Poe and Tate, 'Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s
109. Poe, Tate and Keith, 'Repression of the Human Right to Personal Integrity Revisited
110. Nils Petter Gleditsch, Peter Wallensteen, Mikael Eriksson, Margareta Sollenberg, and Håvard Strand, 'Armed Conflict 1946-2001: A New Dataset', Journal of Peace Research, 39 (2002), 615-37.
111. Mitchell and McCormick, 'Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations', p. 476-98;
112. Todd Landman, David Kernohan and Anita Gohdes, 'Relativizing Human Rights: A New System for Country Ranking' (paper given at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., 2010).
113. Luke Keele and Nathan J. Kelly, 'Dynamic Models for Dynamic Theories: The Ins and Outs of Lagged Dependent Variables', Political Analysis, 14 (2006), 186-205.
114. Whitten-Woodring, 'Watchdog or Lapdog?' pp. 596-609;
115. Joseph K. Young, 'State Capacity, Democracy, and the Violation of Personal Integrity Rights', Journal of Human Rights, 8 (2009), 283-300.
116. For a discussion of issues related to using OLS with categorical outcome indicators, see Alan Agresti, Analysis of Ordinal Categorical Data, 2nd edn (New York: Wiley, 2010), p. 5.
117. Poe and Tate, 'Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s
118. Matthew Krain, 'State-Sponsored Mass Murder', Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(1997), 331-60;
119. Davenport, 'Human Rights and the Democratic Proposition
120. Barabara Harff, 'No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? Assessing Risks of Genocide and Political Mass Murder since 1955', American Political Science Review, 97 (2003), 57-73;
121. Hafner-Burton, 'Sticks and Stones
122. Hafner-Burton and Ron, 'Seeing Double'.
123. Gary King, Michael Tomz and Jason Wittenberg, 'Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation', American Journal of Political Science, 44 (2000), 347-61.
124. A reviewer suggested an alternative operationalization of civil liberties using the CIRI Empowerment Rights Index, which addresses civil rights such as 'Freedom of Movement, Freedom of Speech, Workers' Rights, Political Participation, and Freedom of Religion' (see Cingranelli and Richards, 'Respect for Human Rights after the End of the Cold War') that correspond to Freedom House's Civil Liberties Index, which emphasizes 'freedoms of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law, and personal autonomy without interference from the state' (see Freedom House, Freedom in the World). The two indicators are highly correlated (r50.86). Models estimated using this alternative dependent variable returned results largely similar to those here: UAs exert a positive and highly significant (p,0.01) effect on civil liberties in autocracies, but are negatively correlated with civil liberties in non-autocracies.
125. Ron, Ramos and Rodgers, 'Transnational Information Politics'.
126. Cole, 'No News Is Good News'.
127. Amnesty International, Who We Are (http://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are)
128. Brysk, 'From Above and Below
129. Audie Klotz, 'Transnational Activism and Global Transformations: The Anti-Apartheid and Abolitionist Experiences', European Journal of International Relations, 8 (2002), 49-76.
130. Sam Bell, K. Chad Clay and Amanda Murdie, 'Neighborhood Watch: Spatial Effects of Human Rights INGOs', Journal of Politics, 74 (2012), 354-68;
131. Franklin, 'Shame on You
132. Amanda Murdie and David R. Davis, 'Shaming and Blaming for Change: An Event-Data Study on the Impact of Human Rights INGOs on Human Rights Practices', International Studies Quarterly, 56 (2012), 1-16;
133. Matthew Krain, 'J'Accuse! Does Naming and Shaming Perpetrators Reduce the Severity of Genocides and Politicides?', International Studies Quarterly, 56 (2012), 574-589.