ABSTRACT
New sociological research in the area of human rights should elaborate the themes of international relations and historical process, and explore the multiple ways in which national-level politics and patterns of human rights abuse are influenced by factors both within and beyond the nation-state. This research makes inroads into these questions by presenting a theoretical account of abuse that highlights the multiple intersections between international pressure and national-level politics, and explores potential affects,
both quantitative and qualitative, on patterns of human rights abuse. In addition, this dissertation research attempts to take historical context and historical processes seriously and is attentive to changing rates of human rights abuses as they occur over time, explicitly linking national histories to changing global dynamics. Such an over time analysis enables the identification of notable shifts within “abuse trajectories” themselves. Because national-level historical processes of change are themselves embedded in, and affected by, international historical events and processes, explaining these relationships is central to understanding the phenomenon of human rights abuse itself.
