On human rights: International institutions, domestic factors and incentivizing changes

The fundamental issue with the international human rights regime is that there is no strong mechanism for enforcement. At the same time, external pressure from the international community has not always produced progress and states can fend off external pressure rather than engaging in behavioral changes. My research is grounded in an understanding of domestic politics where I place emphasis on how the political environment shapes a leader’s calculus and state behavior. In three studies, I explore three different domestic mechanisms—the power of veto players, government accountability, and autocratic leader-elite relations—and theorize how each mechanism affects a state’s human rights practices. I also investigate how various domestic mechanisms interact with the United Nations Human Rights Council and National Human Rights Institutions, using empirical strategies, including matching and instrumental variables design, to address issues of endogeneity. This dissertation underscores the role of domestic politics as an essential component to pressure states for human rights policy reforms and as a determinant in the likelihood that human rights advocacy will be successful in bringing about better human rights conditions. My research enriches our understanding of the conditional effect of human rights institutions and the dynamics of repression, sheds light on the global trends in human rights, and has implications for human rights institutions and advocacy.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Navida Chun-Han

Contributors dc:contributor

• Prorok, Alyssa
• Vasquez, John
• Dai, Xinyuan
• Gaines , Brian

• International Relations
• International Organizations
• Human Rights

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Navida Chun-Han Wang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115891

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115891