Faculty Sponsor
Stephen Bagwell
Final Abstract for URS Program
This project is important because it seeks to understand why the United States fails to implement human rights frameworks into its laws. Despite being at the center of the international system, the US thinks itself above international law while evading following international standards. It fits into the discussion of at what point human rights ideals are encouraged by the public. This research delves further into at what point human ideals are encouraged by the public, and what ideals are most encouraged, if any. The United States does not educate its citizens on the concept of international human rights, leaving it up to the states to decide. However, leaving this decision up to the states can have wildly different effects. Education is generally seen as the source through which international values are distributed. But, for this to be the effect, the nation’s education system must promote these world societal values. In the case of the U.S., human rights values are applied unequally, with focus being on actions done abroad, instead of examining the government's treatment of its own constituents. While support for the international standard of human rights trends upward with socioeconomic class and education, the support never outpaces other national concerns. It shows that the government, and by extension, its citizens, do not care about holding the U.S. to the international standards it sets for others. My future research will be a survey experiment with several different vignettes describing the various human rights through a U.S. domestic politics perspective, on a spectrum of gross violations of human rights to everyday violations that occur to the average citizen. The treatment will be a description of what international law, or a major international organization have to say about the matter. The questions that follow will focus on what actions the individual would recommend the government carry out to prevent this violation from happening again. The results will hopefully provide the information of if the general public cares about international law in reference to the U.S, and if knowing how the international community views certain violations that happen within the U.S. makes the populace have more respect for human rights ideals.
Presentation Type
Visual Presentation
Document Type
Article