Shaming and Blaming: Using Events Data to Assess the Impact of Human Rights INGOs

Do the "shaming" activities of HROs (human rights international non-governmental organizations) have a direct influence on state behavior? We argue, consistent with existing scholarship, that states targeted or "shamed" by these organizations do improve their human rights practic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational studies quarterly Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 1 - 16
Main Authors Murdie, Amanda M., Davis, David R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2012
Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Subjects
Advocacy
Amnesty
Boomerangs
Datasets
Democracy
Economic models
Government
Honour and shame
Human Rights
Interaction
International organizations
International studies
NGOs
Non-governmental organizations
Nongovernmental organizations
Organizational analysis
Scholarship
Social interaction
Strategic behaviour
Transnationalism
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Summary:Do the "shaming" activities of HROs (human rights international non-governmental organizations) have a direct influence on state behavior? We argue, consistent with existing scholarship, that states targeted or "shamed" by these organizations do improve their human rights practices. However, mere shaming is not enough. Improvements in human rights practices result from the interaction of shaming by HROs with (i) a domestic presence of HROs within the targeted state and/or (ii) pressure by third-party states, individuals, and organizations. Using a new data set of the shaming events of more than 400 HROs toward governments, we test these propositions quantitatively and find widespread support for the arguments. This research provides the first global quantitative evidence of the conditional importance of HRO shaming in transnational advocacy efforts.
Bibliography:ArticleID:ISQU694
ark:/67375/WNG-8B78H434-1
istex:D7DC94CB1266CE874B325CBD69F4455205CD86C8
Authors' note: We thank Sam Bell, Tavishi Bhasin, John Boli, Doug Bond, Emizet Kisangani, Coty Steinmetz, Dan Reiter, Karen Rasler, and two anonymous reviewers at ISQ for their comments and assistance. Replication materials and web appendix for this article are available from the author's Web site: http://www.k-state.edu/polsci/faculty/amurdie/index.html.
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ISSN:0020-8833
1468-2478
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00694.x