Collaborative Research: Violence, Non-Violence and the Effects of Human Rights Laws

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project studies the relationship between human rights law, human rights violations, and public opinion. How do legal rules affect whether publics approve of human rights violations? To what extent does public opinion depend on whether opposition movements and governments use non-violent or violent tactics? The answers to these questions have important implications for our understanding of governance and the relationship between state and society. By studying these relationships, this project will have substantial intellectual, social, policy, and educational impacts. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and the human rights community with a better understanding of the conditions under which human rights law can affect public opinion toward governments. The project results will aid the actors and institutions involved in the design, implementation, and advocacy for compliance with human rights law. The project will allow practitioners to better anticipate the impacts of violent crises and to determine the conditions under which legal institutions and legal rhetoric can be used more effectively to constrain governments and prevent additional violence. The project addresses these questions through the use of survey experiments. Although the fields of political science and law have developed important theories about the human rights abuses and their relationship to international law, these theories rely on untested assumptions about public opinion. We know very little about how publics respond to human rights abuses. In many situations, publics are opposed to such activities, but in certain contexts publics seem to favor these activities. The survey experiments will consist of randomly administered hypothetical fact patterns. We will conduct the surveys in several countries. These experimental tools will allow us to systematically assess the underlying causal relationships and causal mechanisms. We will identify the extent to which and the conditions under which violations of human rights law have causal effects on public opinion. In addition, the project will identify how law has such effects by systematically testing against each other the main pathways through which legal principles may affect public opinion.