Browsing by Author "Bryant, Kristin Ann"

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    Essays on Human Rights: Protecting and Promoting Human Rights at Home and Abroad
    (2022-06-08) Bryant, Kristin Ann; Leeds, Brett Ashley
    This dissertation examines dfferent issues related to the protection and promotion of human rights. Chapter 1 looks at the effect of foreign aid flows on human rights practices in recipient states. I argue that when donors direct aid toward judicial reforms, it increases respect for civil liberties in states that lack the capacity to implement such reforms on their own. In Chapter 2, I consider how a rebel group’s commitment to respect human rights affects external sponsorship decisions. I theorize that a human rights commitment informs potential state sponsors about the group, its capabilities, and its intentions -- information that increases the likelihood that a rebel group receives external support. In Chapter 3, we test the presumption that voters will punish elected officials who violate commonly held human rights norms using a survey experiment that asks voters to choose between two candidates for president with typical Democratic and Republican positions. Our treatment varies whether one candidate endorses an abuse of physical integrity rights. I test my hypotheses using large-N empirical analyses and an original survey experiment.