State Capacity, Democracy, and the Violation of Personal Integrity Rights

Abstract

While a large literature explores the effect that regime type has on personal integrity rights violations, few studies have explored a state-centric approach to understanding these violations. I develop an argument that focuses on the leaders of the state and the incentives that they have to protect or violate rights. Moving beyond the democracy-autocracy debate, I claim that state leaders who are more secure, face fewer costs in producing their desired policies, and have more bargaining power vis-à-vis their domestic opponents are less likely to violate their citizen's personal integrity rights. Using a series of econometric models, I find support for many of the hypotheses derived from the argument. Based on the results of the models, I offer some potential policy implications.