Current Institutional Affiliation
Professor, Sociology, Stanford University

Award Information

Abe Fellowship 2003
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Assistant Professor, Sociology, State University of New York (SUNY) / Stony Brook University
The Impact of Global Human Rights on Ethnic Social Movements: Cross-National Analysis and Japanese Cases

The project proposes a new argument that the global expansion of human rights ideas and instruments has given rise to ethnic social movements in the post-World War II era. By focusing on global factors that circumscribe ethnic politics, which most existing studies have overlooked, my theoretical framework explains the global increase in ethno-political mobilizations. I compile a cross-national quantitative data set on over 300 ethnic groups and carry out comparative longitudinal statistical analyses to demonstrate the validity of my argument. I also conduct case studies of Japanese ethnic groups to clarify the mechanisms through which global human rights impact local ethnic groups: the purpose of the case studies is explicitly to illustrate the transnational processes that the comparative statistical analyses demonstrate. The findings will enhance understanding of contemporary ethnic politics, a pressing global concern for both industrialized and industrializing societies, and highlight the impact of global human rights on local politics.

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