Respect for Human Rights has Improved Over Time: Modeling the Changing Standard of Accountability

• Published in: The American political science review Vol. 108; no. 2; pp. 297 - 318
• Main Author: FARISS, CHRISTOPHER J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.05.2014
• Subjects: Accountability; Amnesties; Amnesty; Automation; Coding; Content analysis; Death; Democracy; Departments; Electoral College; Electoral systems; Estimates; Genocide; Human Rights; Indexes (Measures); Intellectuals; International relations; Item Response Theory; Massacres; Mathematical constants; Modeling; Monitoring; Nonprofit organizations; Parametric models; Political activism; Political persecution; Political science; Ratification; Reporting standards; Repression; Repression (Political); Torture; Treaties; U.S.A; UN Conventions; United Nations; Variables

According to indicators of political repression currently used by scholars, human rights practices have not improved over the past 35 years, despite the spread of human rights norms, better monitoring, and the increasing prevalence of electoral democracy. I argue that this empirical pattern is not a...