Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legitimizing the State or a Grievance?

这个项目调查了当个人获得合法权利时会发生什么。这项工作旨在确定这些人是否表现出对国家的信任增加，从而增加了他们的政治参与，或者，相反，发现这些人脱离了国家。本研究试图理解一种权利的正式承认——特别是对土地的正式财产权——是否会影响个人参与政治的动机。PI对三个农村土地所有权项目进行了跨国分析。这些产权政策提供了一个独特的机会，可以研究经常被边缘化的小农群体在国家正式授予他们合法产权时的反应。这项研究有望对政治学和法学研究领域做出有意义的贡献。这些领域早就认识到合法权利具有使国家合法化或激发政治动员的潜力，但尚未探索正式承认权利与对政治态度和行为的相应影响之间的关系。该项目还将评估拟议的土地所有权正规化工作的有效性，帮助区分有意义的权利延伸和无效的权利延伸。此外，该研究还可以提供证据，证明承认受害者的权利是否可以促进重建，并在武装冲突后建立对国家机构的信任。【技术摘要】本研究调查了一项正式的、合法的权利的延伸是否会导致个人对国家的信任和/或更多地与国家接触。本研究旨在了解对土地正式产权的正式承认是否会改变个人参与政治的动机。尽管法律权利在规范和社会运动理论中处于中心地位，但两个重要问题仍未得到解决。首先，一项法定权利本身，作为一项主张的象征性正当性，是否对政治行为产生了超越该权利所保护的基础禀赋或权利的影响？其次，权利是否创造了参与政治的动机？学者们争论基于权利的主张在促进政治动员和产生政治变革方面的力量。事实上，如果获得一项正式权利会增加权利持有者对一项利益的安全感，那么参与“代价高昂”的政治活动的动机可能就会减少。然而，其他人则认为权利是强有力的象征，并质疑为什么它们在某些情况下激励动员，但在其他情况下却抑制参与。本项目采用多方法、跨国研究设计，结合三个农村土地所有权项目的定性和定量数据分析。这些项目为研究法律地位的具体变化提供了机会，但并没有显著改变土地的基本分配，从而隔离了法律权利变化的影响。这笔资金将资助通过焦点小组和农村小农收集实地研究数据。这些新数据将有助于解释土地正规化统计分析的结果。值得注意的是，它们将对与权利承认地位变化有关的任何影响的因果机制提供重要见解。反过来，这将有助于研究对我们对权利对个人行为影响的理论和实证理解的影响。

General AbstractThis project investigates what happens when individuals gain legal rights. The work seeks to determine whether these individuals exhibit increased trust of the state and therefore increase their political participation, or, alternatively, find that these individuals disengage from the state. This study seeks to understand whether the formal recognition of a right -- in particular, a formal property right to land -- affects an individual's incentives to engage in politics. The PI conducts a cross-national analysis of three rural land-titling programs. These titling policies offer a unique opportunity to study how an often marginalized group, small-holding farmers, react when the state formally grants them a legal property right. This study is poised to make a meaningful contribution to the fields of political science and legal studies. These areas have long recognized the potential of legal rights to legitimize the state or spark political mobilization, but have not explored the relationship between the formal recognition of rights and the corresponding influence on political attitudes and behavior. This project will also evaluate the effectiveness of proposed land ownership formalization efforts, helping to distinguish meaningful extensions of rights from ineffective ones. Additionally, the study can also provide evidence on whether the recognition of victims' rights can promote reconstruction and build trust toward state institutions in the aftermath of armed conflict.Technical AbstractThis research investigates whether the extension of a formal, legal right causes an individual to trust in and/or engage more with the state. This study seeks to understand whether the formal recognition of a formal property right to land changes an individual's incentives to engage in politics. Despite the centrality of legal rights in normative and social movement theories, two significant questions remain unresolved. First, does a legal right itself, as a symbolic justification of a claim, have an effect on political behavior beyond the underlying endowment or entitlement the right protects? Secondly, do rights create an incentive to participate disengage politically? Scholars debate the power of rights-based claims to promote political mobilization and to engender political change. Indeed, if receiving a formal right increases the right-bearer's feeling of security over an interest, there may be little incentive to engage in "costly" political activities. However, others argue that rights are powerful symbols, and question why they incentivize mobilization in some instances, but dampen participation in others. This project uses a multi-method, cross-national research design that combines analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from three rural land-titling programs. These programs provide an opportunity to study a specific change in legal status, yet does not significantly alter the underlying distribution of land, thereby isolating the impact of the change in legal rights. This funding will sponsor the field research data collection through focus groups and small-holding farmers in rural villages. These new data will help to interpret the results from statistical analyses on land formalization. Notably they will provide important insight into the causal mechanisms that underlie any effect associated with changes in the status of rights recognition. In turn, this will contribute to the study's impact on our theoretical and empirical understanding of the influence of rights on individual behavior.