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Human Rights Section Award Recipients

More on the Human Rights section

Best Book Award
Best Dissertation Award
Best Paper Award
Distinguished Scholar Award


Best Book Award

The competition is open to all books on human rights that were written by a political scientist and published in the previous two years.

2023 Lynette Ong, University of Toronto
Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China. Oxford University Press, 2022.
2021 Adam Chilton, University of Chicago
How Constitutional Rights Matter. Oxford University Press, 2020.
2021 Mila Versteeg, University of Virginia
How Constitutional Rights Matter. Oxford University Press, 2020.
2020 Rauna Kuokkanen, University of Lapland
Restructuring Relations: Indigenous Self-Determination, Governance, and Gender. Oxford University Press, 2019.
2019

Andrea Vilán, Princeton University
The Domestic Incorporation of Human Rights Treaties. Princeton University Press, 2018.

2018 Manfred Nowak, University of Vienna
Human Rights or Global Capitalism. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.
2017 Onur Bakiner, Seattle University
Truth Commissions: Memory, Power, and Legitimacy. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
2015      Lisa Baldez
Defying Convention: US Resistance to the UN Treaty on Women's Rights (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 
2014  Jeffrey Hilgert
Hazard or Hardship: Crafting Global Norms on the Right to Refuse Unsafe Work (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013) 
2014  Jo Becker
Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights and Advocacy in Practice (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013)
2013 Jacqui True, University of Auckland
The Political Economy of Violence Against Women (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012)
2012  Richard Price
Rainforest Warriors: Human Rights on Trial (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011) 
2011 Karen Engle, University of Texas Austin
The Elusive Promise of Indigenous Development: Rights, Culture and Strategy
2010  Richard P. Hiskes
The Human Rights to a Green Future: Environmental Rights and Intergenerational Justice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) 
2010  Shadi Mokhtari
After Abu Ghraib: Exploring Human Rights in the Americas and the Middle East (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) 
2009 Barbara Bennett Woodhouse
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Tragedy of Children's Rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate (Princeton University Press, 2008)
2007 Stephen Hopgood, University of London
Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International
2006 Eric Stover, University of California, Berkeley
The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in the Hague (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005)
2004 Rhoda Howard-Hassmann FRSC, Wilfrid Laurier University
Compassionate Canadians: Civic Leaders Discuss Human Rights (University of Toronto Press, 2003)
2003 Richard Claude, University of Maryland
Science in the Service of Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002)

 


Best Dissertation Award

Political Science dissertations that focus on human rights and completed and accepted in the previous two calendar years are eligible for the award competition.

2023

Sumin Lee, Rutgers University
“Gender Justice for Whom? Domestic Accountability for Wartime Sexual Violence.” Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

2022 Kelebogile Zvobgo, College of William and Mary
“Governing Truth: NGOs and the Politics of Transitional Justice," Dissertation at USC.
2021

Anthony DeMattee, Indiana University
“Domesticating Civil Society: How and Why Governments Use Laws to Regulate CSOs.” Indiana University, 2020.

2020

Francesca Keiko Teraoka Parente, University of California, Los Angeles
“Past Regret, Future Fear: Compliance with International Law.” 

2019

Andrea Vilán, University of California, Los Angeles
"The Domestic Incorporation of Human Rights Treaties"

2018 Suparna Chaudhry, Yale University
“The Assault on Democracy Assistance: Explaining State Repression of NGOs.”
2015              Peter Haschke, University of North Carolina
"Democracy and the Human Right to the Physical Integrity of the Person" 
2012 Kali Wright-Smith, Purdue University
The Decision to Comply: Patterns of compliance with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
2010 Andreas von Staden, Princeton University
Shaping Human Rights Policy in Liberal Democracies: Assessing and Explaining Compliance with the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
2009 Hun Joon Kim, University of Minnesota
"Expansion of Transitional Justice Measures: A Comparative Analysis of Its Causes"
2007 Daniel Whelan, University of Denver
Interdependent, Indivisible and Interrelated Human Rights: A Political and Historical Investigation
2006 Matthew Price, Harvard University
"Political Conception of Asylum"
2005  Leslie Wirpsa, University of Southern California and Stanford University
"Oil and Indigenous Rights in Colombia/Andes" 
2004 Emilie Hafner-Burton, University of Wisconsin, Madison
"Globalizing Human Rights? How International Trade Agreements Shape Government Repression"
2003 Claudio Fuentes, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
"Contesting the Iron Fist: Advocacy Networks and Police Violence in Democratic Argentina and Chile"

 


Best Paper Award

The APSA Best Paper Award recognizes the "best paper" presented on a Human Rights Section Panel at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting

2023 Yehonaton Abramson, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Whose Critique Matters? The Effects of Critic Identity and Audience on Public Opinion"
2023 Abil Menon, Cornell University
"Whose Critique Matters? The Effects of Critic Identity and Audience on Public Opinion"
2023 Abir Gitlin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Whose Critique Matters? The Effects of Critic Identity and Audience on Public Opinion"
2021 Xinyuan Dai, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
“New Democracies, Sovereignty Costs, and Commitment to Human Rights Treaties.” Paper presented at the 2020 APSA Annual Meeting.
2021 Alexandros Tokhi, WBZ Berlin Social Science Center
“New Democracies, Sovereignty Costs, and Commitment to Human Rights Treaties.” Paper presented at the 2020 APSA Annual Meeting
2020 Kate Cronin-Furman, University College London

“Human Rights Half-Measures: Avoiding Accountability in Post-War Sri Lanka.” 

2019 Kelebogile Zvobgo, University of Southern California
"Reserving Rights: Examining Human Rights Treaty Reservations."
2019

Wayne Sandholz, University of Southern California
"Reserving Rights: Examining Human Rights Treaty Reservations." 

2009   Manoj Mate, University of California, Berkeley
"State Security and Elite Capture: The Implementation of Ant-Terrorist Legislation in India"
2009 Adnan Naseemullah, University of California, Berkeley
"State Security and Elite Capture: The Implementation of Anti-Terrorist Legislation in India

Distinguished Scholar Award

This Award recognizes an individual who has worked in the field of Human Rights and made an exceptional contribution to the field through research, teaching and mentorship.

2022 Richard P. Hiskes, Grand Valley State University
2014    Claude Welch, University of Buffalo
2011 Mark Gibney, University of North Carolina-Asheville
2010 Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, Purchase College, SUNY
2009 Rhoda Howard-Hassmann FRSC, Wilfrid Laurier University
2009 Jack Donnelly, University of Denver