The Global Resonance of Human Rights: What Google Trends Can Tell Us
By Geoff Dancy, University of Toronto And Christopher J. Fariss, University of Michigan
Where does the discourse on human rights find the most resonance? We use aggregated cross-national Google search data to test two divergent versions of why human rights appeal to some populations but not others. The top-down model predicts that national interest in human rights is mainly attributable to external factors such as foreign direct investment, transnational NGO campaigns or international legalization, while the bottom-up model highlights the he importance of internal factors such as economic growth and the persistence of inequality. repression. We find more evidence in favor of the latter model: not only is interest in human rights more concentrated in the Global South, but the discourse also finds more resonance where people regularly face violence. state violence. In drawing these conclusions, this article confronts high-level debates about whether human rights will remain relevant in the future and whether the discourse still animates counter-hegemonic modes of resistance. The answer to both questions, according to our research, is “yes.”
