ABSTRACT
Some universities offer human rights degrees, some create research centers, and many do not incorporate human rights at all. Among those that do offer degrees, options include an undergraduate major, a professional Master’s degree, and an even more specialized Master of Laws (LL.M.) credential in human rights. In considering variation and diffusion, we contextualize a global reform that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative elements. Many cross-national studies of universities demonstrate that the mechanisms or motors of change are global, but this research generally does not address variation within countries (Schofer and Meyer 2005; Frank and Gabler 2006). By contrast, many national-level studies of universities demonstrate that internal processes and local dynamics matter for explaining change, but these studies generally do not discuss cross-national pressures or trends (Clark 1996; Gumport 2000; Brint et al. 2005; Olzak and Kangas 2008). Our research agenda on human rights education in the United States thus strives to build on the strengths of three different types of institutionalism and apply them to a topic of great interest to comparative education scholars.
