Thematic seminars – human
rights and international relations
Contents
Seminar 1 – 7-9 – Introduction To Multidisciplinary Human Rights research methods..........................2
Seminar 2 – 14-9 – Empirical Research In Human Rights: Causes Of Human Rights Violations..............5
Seminar 3 – 5-10 – Qualitative Methods In International Relations And Human Rights Research.........9
Seminar 4 – 26-10 – Case Studies And Process Tracing In Human Rights Research.............................14
Seminar 5 – 2-11 – Interpretative Methods In Human Rights Research...............................................17
Seminar 6 – 30-11 – Ethics Of Human Rights Research........................................................................20
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,Seminar 1 – 7-9 – Introduction To Multidisciplinary
Human Rights research methods
Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. specializes in human rights and in the impact of American
humanitarian intervention.
What are human rights? – amnesty international
- Universal declaration of human rights
- All humans have these rights, regardless of anything
- No person or entity can take human rights away from you
- Human rights ought to be protected
COVID19 pandemic and human rights – human rights watch
- Human rights should be at the centre of the responses of governments
- Gender inequality, disability inequality, refugee inequality should not increase due to
responses to the pandemic
States grant/guarantee the human rights imposed by the UN, not the UN itself human rights are
tied to citizenship controversies
What are human rights?
- Inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, gender,
national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, dialect, or any other status
- Equal entitlement without discrimination
- Universal and inalienable (cannot be taken away, only with due process)
- Equal and non-discriminatory
- Both rights and obligations
- Interrelated, interdependent and invisible
- Inherent dignity of the human person and are defined internationally, nationally and locally
by various law making bodies
Interesting debates about human rights
- Abortion: pro-life or -choice
- Death penalty (is the right to life inherent to all human beings or is that right granted by the
state?)
- Right of free speech (constrained by the obligation to respect other human beings)
Five categories of human rights
- Civil: the right to be treated as an equal to anyone else in society
- Political: the right to vote, to freedom of speech and to obtain information
- Economic: the right to participate in an economy that benefits all and to desirable work
- Social: the right to education, health care, food, clothing, shelter, and social security
- Cultural: the right to freedom of religion, and to speak the language, and to practice the
culture of one’s choices
Human rights as an object of enquiry (Goodhart 2016)
Empirical Normative
Scope of analysis What is; the practice of human What ought to be; moral,
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, rights in the world philosophical, or conceptual
questions about human rights
Object of analysis Real world phenomena; Concepts; democracy,
treaties and conventions, freedom, obligation, rights,
institutions, violations, etc.
enforcement, social
movements, historical records, Arguments; freedom requires
interviews, opinion surveys, X, one should prioritize A if B is
statistical measures, etc. applicable, etc.
Aims of analysis Description or observation of Clarification of key concepts
what is actually going on and definitions
Explanation of what accounts Justification or moral
for the patterns of what arguments that support
accounts for the patterns and human rights
relationships in our
observations or predicts what Moral critique or critical
is likely to occur evaluation of existing laws,
policies, and practices using
normative standards
Creating a research question
- Research questions should contain within themselves the means for assessing their
achievement
- Focused, simple, relevant and achievable
- You can answer the question in the positive and negative (if relevant)
- Think about how the research question interacts with the rest of your research
o Theory
o Methodology: case studies, comparison
o Methods: qualitative and/or quantitative
TIP: make a concept map
Example: to what extent did the Merkel administration comply with the human rights
obligations during the refugee crisis from 2015 to 2019?
- List your interests as they pertain to your specific discipline or assignment
- Consider one of the items on your list. Jot down everything you know about the topic as
quickly as you can (list or paragraph form is fine)
- Read
o Often times, we do not know what we are curious about until we read about subjects
that interest us first. Go to the library, and also search online academic and
professional sites related to your discipline and topic
- After you have read, try doing strategy #1 again!
- Consider the rhetorical modes which we all use to organize our ideas in speaking or writing
o Comparison and contrast
o Process
o Classification or division
o Cause and effect
o Problem and solution (not advised; applicable when doing applied policy research)
- Consider why? How? So what? And what if? for each of these modes
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