New textbook on human rights

Fifteen years after the first edition came out, we finally have a completely updated and overhauled version of our textbook ready for you! We hope you will find it just as useful, or possibly even more so, than the first edition! Check out The Politics of Human Rights. The Quest for Dignity in the 21st Century.

Reviews and Endorsements

“The Politics of Human Rights offers an insightful and empirically grounded exploration of human rights, their violations, and the mechanisms designed to protect them. This revised edition integrates rigorous scientific analysis with real-world case studies, making it an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners. With its focus on the universal nature of human rights and the shared responsibility to uphold them, this book is an essential guide for understanding both the challenges and the progress in the fight for human dignity.” Bonny Ibhawoh - Senator William McMaster Chair in Global Human Rights, McMaster University

“This is an excellent introduction to the politics of human rights and what we know from existing research. It provides a framework to help readers understand how challenges to human rights arise, highlighting the specific actors and their choices, as well the scope for efforts to improve human rights.” Kristian Skrede Gleditsch - Regius Professor of Political Science, University of Essex & Research Associate, Peace Research Institute Oslo

“This book is a must-read primer on human rights, perfect for undergraduate courses, graduate seminars, as a comprehensive guide for scholars moving into studying human rights, and as a reference tool for scholars already studying human rights or repression. It expansively covers essential topics – the legal definitions of human rights, data collection on human rights violations, the causes of human rights violations, and the prevention of, and societal recovery from, human rights violations – but does so accessibly and with a myriad of engaging examples. The book also smartly engages a variety of critical contemporary issues, including the human rights of migrants, corporations and organized crime as human rights violators, police violence in the US in a human rights context, and many others. The chapter on human rights and the Internet is an incredible and compelling synthesis of a diverse set of sub-fields.” Jennifer Earl - Chair and Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware

New publication on security perceptions and foreign policy preferences in Georgia

Sabine Carey and Jürgen Brandsch have published a new article on how living near different boundary lines affects perceptions of security and preferences towards dealing with a significantly stronger neighbour. Using novel survey data, they show that ambiguous borderlines are linked with greater concerns about insecurity. while clearly fortified borderlines lower concerns about insecurity. Despite these greater concerns of those living near the creeping border between South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, they are particularly hesitant towards taking a stronger stance towards their Russian neighbour. Hence, strongly felt instability does not necessarily lead to demanding more hawkish foreign policies.

Article introducing PGMD 2.0 is now available

The article “The Life, Death and Diversity of Pro-Government Militias: The Fully Revised Pro-Government Militias Database Version 2.0.” by Sabine Carey, Neil Mitchell and Katrin Paula is now out in Research & Politics 9(1). It describes this fully revised version of the PGMD. The data are available here.

Paper on killings of journalists accepted for publication

Why are journalists killed for the work they do - and why are journalists predominately murdered in institutional democracies, where they should enjoy particular protection? Sabine Carey and Anita Gohdes research this question with new detailed data on killings of journalists globally, identifying type of perpetrator and outlets the journalists were working for. Their results show that, counterintuitively, democratic institutions do not help protect reporters from being murdered. Among institutional democracies, locally elected governments increase the risk that a journalist is murdered by state actors or by unconfirmed perpetrators.

The article “Understanding journalist killings” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Politics. Access the pre-publication paper here.

New work on the detrimental impact of war-time militias on post-conflict repression

Sabine Carey and Belén González show in a new study, accepted for publication in Conflict Management and Peace Science, that pro-government militias that carry over from civil war times into the post-conflict period have a detrimental impact on repression in postwar societies. Post-war governments do not very frequently create or align with new irregular armed groups, but if they do, then these new militias target more specifically the opposition but without affecting general levels of repression. The open access article is available here.

New publication on electoral violence

Mascha Rauschenbach and Katrin Paula’s article on electoral violence is now out on FirstView at Journal of Peace Research. using data from seven African countries, their research shows that incumbent supporters are targeted with clientelism, while swing and opposition voters are more likely to be intimidated with violence.

New study on the impact of PGMs on recurrence of conflict

Steinert, steinert & Carey JPR 2018

This is a new study by Christoph Steinert, Janina Steinert and Sabine Carey that shows that conflicts in which pro-government militias participate in the counterinsurgency campaign are more likely to break out again after they have been terminated; published open access in the Journal of Peace Research.

Report in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung

Anita Gohdes and Sabine Carey have written an article about their latest study on the link between the killings of journalists and human rights violations more generally in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 4 June 2017.

FAZ 4 June 2017

Report by the European Commission about our research

The European Commission posted a short report about our study on using the killings of journalists to assess the risk of wider human rights violations.

New publication on link between killing of journalists and repression

In a new study in Journal of Peace Research, Anita Gohdes and Sabine Carey show that the killings of journalists can act as early warning indicator for worsening overall repression. Download the ungated article.

Review article on pro-government militias and conflict published

Sabine Carey and Neil Mitchell published the article "Pro-Government Militias and Conflict" in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. It examines the supply of and demand for these groups  in civil war and how they shape such conflicts. 

Policy brief on pro-government militias, human rights abuse and the ambiguous role of foreign aid

Sabine Carey and Neil Mitchell published a policy briefing paper with the German Development Institute, in which they explain why foreign aid might encourage leaders to use militias. Download the briefing paper here.

A new typology of pro-government militias

Sabine Carey and Neil Mitchell. 2015. "The Monopoly of Violence and the Puzzling Survival of Pro-Government Militias." submitted to the Annual Review of Political Science.