Globalization and Human Rights: The Effects of Integration on State Repression in Developing Countries, 1976-2000

Abstract

The process of globalization is the subject of heated debate over its impacts on human and state security. In this dissertation, I address its influences on one area of human security - the protection of personal integrity rights. Two questions motivate this project. First, does the globalization process affect the decision-making process of leaders such that there is an alteration in the likelihood that their populations will fall victim to violent forms of state repression? Second, how can the globalization phenomenon best be systematically examined in order to gain a better, generalizable understanding of its complex dynamics and effects on state and human security?I contend that globalization must be disaggregated into its distinct aspects, at different levels of analysis, in order to uncover the complex and even contradictory impacts that it is having throughout the international political economy. I utilize data on 156 lesser developed countries over the period of 1973-2000 to assess the effects of several sub-facets of globalization at both the levels of individual state and systemic integration upon personal integrity rights, as measured by the Political Terror Scale. In terms of levels of state integration, the increasing scope of interdependence between state and non-state actors magnifies the external pressures that leaders must consider when deciding whether or not to employ repressive measures to quell domestic threats. At the system level, globalization may be viewed as an ordering principle, which is expanding a set of rules that alters the propensity of states to engage in violent forms of coercion.The findings in this dissertation indicate that globalization is expanding, with respect to lesser developed countries. Moreover, it significantly influences the likelihood that individuals within these states will fall victim to state repression. However, the complexity and contradictory nature of these effects substantiates my claim that one must disaggregate the concept into its distinct parts. In this manner, this dissertation provides a significant contribution to extending our knowledge of the determinants of state repression as well as the effects of the globalization process. Additionally, it provides a model from which additional influences of globalization may be studied.