Dr. Gino Pauselli kicks off fall Nexus Series

The fall semester's first IJL Nexus Series talk was on October 3 at the Global Research Institute. Gino Pauselli, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, presented in-progress research "Legitimizing States: Illiberal NGOs in the Universal Periodic Review." Abstract below.

Who promotes illiberal NGOs within the human rights system, and what impact do these organizations have on state behavior in the human rights regime? Illiberal NGOs are NGOs that exclusively praise a government's human rights performance. They can also be instrumental in promoting or safeguarding governmental legitimacy, particularly in areas where reputation is important, such as human rights. By disseminating positive information about human rights practices or contesting allegations of violations, illiberal NGOs can shape perceptions of state legitimacy. This paper uses newly collected data on civil society organizations that have submitted information to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). We identify illiberal NGOs and analyze their strategies—--whether they seek to legitimize states under review through praise, by contesting negative claims, or both. Additionally, we map the distribution of illiberal NGOs, identifying the states that sponsor them and those they report on. We find that illiberal regimes with an active agenda to undermine liberal values are both the main promoters and beneficiaries of illiberal NGOs in the international human rights regime.

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