POWRE: The Adoption and Enforcement of Laws Banning Female Mutilation

近年来，一些非洲国家通过了禁止女性生殖器切除（FGE）的法律。人权倡导者质疑这些法律是否能有效地改变在某些地区已经存在了数千年的文化习俗。本研究运用社会学制度主义和地位建构理论，探讨象征性法律是否能够改变行为，以及在何种情况下能够改变行为。收集了242个次国家级群体的FGE发病率数据。这项研究还将考虑法律在改变行为方面是否具有超越一般国际压力的作用。将采用时间序列分析的方法来解释1979年至今这些部落群体的FGE比率的变化。制度理论的独特见解之一是它能够解释“脱钩”的存在，即法律与行动之间的弱关系。这项工作通过考虑脱钩程度的变化扩展了制度理论。假设预测，当法律是由于内部动员而不是由于国际社会的压力而通过的，并且当精英部落停止FGE的实践并且部落之间的互动在国家内部很常见时，法律将是最有效的（脱钩较少）。这项研究对如何最好地执行人权议程这一重要课题也有影响。在从事了四年法律工作后，这位调查员“休息”了一段时间，去攻读博士学位并抚养年幼的孩子。她现在正在开始学术生涯，希望利用她在社会心理学和国际法方面的双重背景，对法律社会学做出独特的贡献。该奖项将使她能够探索使用比较方法作为法律是否以及在何种情况下对行为产生影响的对照测试的可行性。这项研究对根除FGE具有直接的政策意义，也影响了对法律何时以及为何改变行为的理论理解。因此，该奖项将增强研究者在学术和政策领域的领导潜力。

In recent years, a number of African nations have passed laws banning female genital excision (FGE). Human rights advocates question whether these laws will be effective in changing a cultural practice, which has existed in some areas for thousands of years. Using sociological institutionalism and status construction theory, this study investigates whether, and under what circumstances, symbolic laws are able to change behavior. Data addressing the incidence of FGE has been collected for 242 subnational groups. This research will also consider whether laws have an effect in changing behavior over and above general international pressure. The method of time series analysis will be employed to explain changes in the rates of FGE for these tribal groups during the period from 1979 to present. One of the unique insights of institutional theory has been its ability to explain the existence of `decoupling,` that is, a weak relationship between laws and action. This work extends institutional theory by considering variation in the degree of decoupling. Hypotheses predict that laws will be most effective (have less decoupling) when they are passed as a result of internal mobilization more than as a result of pressure from the international community, and also when elite tribes discontinue the practice of FGE and interaction among tribes is common within the nation. This research also has implications for the important topic of how best to implement a human rights agenda. After practicing law for four years, the investigator took time `off` to earn a Ph.D. and raise young children. She is now beginning an academic career and wishes to use her dual background in social psychology and international law to make a unique contribution to the sociology of law. This award will enable her to explore the feasibility of using a comparative approach as a controlled test of whether and under what circumstances laws have an impact on behavior. The research has direct policy implications for eradicating FGE, and also impacts the theoretical understanding of when and why laws change behavior. For that reason, this award will enhance the investigator's leadership potential in both academic and policy fields.