Don’t Tell Us What to Do: Human Rights Shaming and Nationalist Backlash

• In Event: Compliance and Defiance with International Law

Abstract

In the last three decades, scholars and activists have argued that international “naming and shaming” can improve human rights conditions around the world. In addition to applying pressure from “above,” many argue that foreign shaming mobilizes domestic populations against the rights violating state. This paper challenges that conventional wisdom, arguing that international pressure can backfire by provoking a nationalist reaction. Drawing on survey experiments from a nationally representative sample, we show that human rights shaming exerts counterproductive effects on national opinion in the country being shamed. Specifically, foreign condemnation drives higher nationalist sentiments, a more positive perception of local human rights conditions, and less support for international institutions and advocacy groups. These findings have broad implications for theories of international norms, advocacy, and law.

Authors

• Rochelle Layla Terman, University of Chicago

• Jamie Gruffydd-Jones, University of Kent