Research Symposium

BIO

Devon George is a second-year student studying Political Science and International Relations at FSU, hailing from the Tampa Bay area. Her research interests focus on the success of different strategies that dissuade human rights abuses and the effect of human rights abuse allegations on public opinion. Currently, she is involved in Women in Pre-Law Society (WIPS), the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) and will be working on her Master's in Applied American Politics and Public Policy beginning Fall 2024. After completing her degrees, she hopes to go to law school to further her interests in human rights and international law.

How Political Elites Deny Accusations of Human Rights Abuses

Abstract

Human rights advocates generally rely on the “naming and shaming,” or public criticism of human rights practices, the effectiveness of which is debated, under-researched, and the validity often denied by governments. This study seeks to collect data on exactly when and how political elites deny accusations of human rights abuses, aiming to discover a relationship between methods of denial employed and their effect on public opinion of the accused government. Denials were first hand-coded with articles by the Associated Press and the New York Times, then analyzed to reveal that denial varies in the target of denial and the type of rhetoric used. Second, a survey experiment fielded in the Philippines assessed how denials affect public opinion, the findings of which countered the hypothesis that public attitudes were significantly impacted by denial. One possible explanation could be that the influence that the U.S. has over its weaker allies was underestimated, in this case Philippines-U.S. ties are stronger than previously thought. This research seeks a more complete understanding of how political elites interact with human rights advocacy, gauging how effective “naming and shaming” is in deterring further violations and improving human rights practices.

Keywords: political science, human rights, international relations, human rights abuses, public opinion