A Data Set for Human Rights Research

以往关于政府尊重人权的理论构建和实证研究，大多试图解释为什么有些政府尊重公民的人权，而有些政府不尊重公民的人权。在每一种情况下，重点都是试图解释政府为什么尊重某项权利或某一类人权。没有任何研究试图解释政府在尊重所有国际公认人权方面的差异。虽然人们普遍认为，所有政府都比其他人更尊重某些人权，但由于缺乏统一的理论，我们无法理解政府尊重不同人权的原因和方式。因此，这项建议提出的问题是：“当一个政府容许其公民享有某些人权，但不容许其公民享有其他人权时，最有可能剥夺公民的权利是什么？“为了回答这个问题，这一建议提供了一个政府尊重人权的不稳定理论，表明政府最愿意尊重那些对精英经济特权构成最小威胁的权利。几个可检验的假设来自这个理论框架。使用概率，一维，累积缩放技术对现有数据，预测试的结果已经为这些假设提供了支持。这项研究利用大量案例和关于政府尊重国际法承认的人权的更全面的资料，对假设进行了更严格的检验。 该项目建立了一个独特的信息数据库，描述1981年至2002年期间160个国家政府尊重约30种不同的国际公认人权的情况。这一数据库将通过一个独特的因特网分发系统立即免费提供，使用户能够在线创建自己的子集，并以自己选择的流行文件格式下载。通过一个独特的基于互联网的分发系统提供这一项目产生的数据集，将使决策者、非政府组织和国际组织以及学生能够构思和参与前所未有的涉及各种国际公认人权的研究。该项目的贡献超越了基础研究，促进了对政府尊重和侵犯人权方式的更好理解。美国政府目前面临的最大挑战也许是对全球安全环境的准确理解。世界各国政府对人权的低水平尊重往往会增加对美国政府的怨恨，这反过来又会降低美国免受外部威胁的安全。更好地了解世界各国政府侵犯人权的模式，可能有助于制定减少侵犯人权行为的战略，从而改善全球安全环境。例如，决策者将能够利用这些数据帮助评估公共政策的影响，例如发展援助对政府尊重妇女权利和工人权利等具体人权的影响。这将有助于他们了解并最终影响国际安全环境。

Much of the previous theory building and empirical research concerning government respect for human rights has attempted to explain why some governments respect the human rights of their citizens while others do not. In each case, the focus has been on trying to explain why governments respect a particular right or a single category of human rights. No study has tried to explain government variations in respect for the full range of internationally recognized human rights. While there is general agreement that all governments respect some human rights more than others, our ability to understand the reasons why, and ways in which, government respect for different human rights varies is hindered by the lack of a unified theory. Thus, this proposal asks, "When a government allows its citizens to enjoy some human rights but not others, what rights are most likely to be withheld from citizens and why?" To answer this question, this proposal offers a destabilization theory of government respect for human rights suggesting that governments are most willing to respect those rights that pose the least threat to the economic privileges of elites. Several testable hypotheses are derived from this theoretical framework. Using a probabilistic, one-dimensional, cumulative scaling technique on existing data, results of a pretest already have provided support for these hypotheses. This research allows for a more stringent test of the hypotheses, utilizing a substantially larger set of cases and more comprehensive information about government respect for the human rights recognized in international law. The project produces a unique database of information describing government respect for approximately 30 different internationally recognized human rights in 160 countries from 1981 to 2002. This database will be made immediately and freely available through a unique internet-based distribution system allowing users to create their own subsets online and download them in their choice of popular file formats. The availability of the dataset resulting from this project via a unique internet-based distribution system will permit policy-makers, scholar-researchers, non-governmental and international organizations, and students to conceive and engage in a never-before-possible range of studies involving a full range of internationally recognized human rights. The project contributes beyond basic research by promoting a better understanding of the ways governments respect and violate human rights. Perhaps the greatest challenge currently facing the US government is attaining an accurate understanding of the global security environment. Low levels of respect for the human rights by governments around the world often increases resentment towards the US government, which, in turn, reduces the security of the United States from external threats. Greater understanding of the patterns of human rights abuse by governments around the world may suggest strategies for reducing human rights abuses and, thereby, improving the global security environment. For example, policy makers will be able to use the data to help assess the impacts of public policies such as development assistance on government respect for specific types of human rights such as women's rights and workers' rights. This will help them understand and ultimately affect the international security environment.