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Replication data for: Changing standards or political whim? Evaluating Changes in the Content of the US State Department Human Rights Reports following Presidential Transitions

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication data for: Changing standards or political whim? Evaluating Changes in the Content of the US State Department Human Rights Reports following Presidential Transitions
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CPU2DU
 
Creator Cordell, Rebecca
Clay, K. Chad
Fariss, Christopher J.
Wood, Reed M.
Wright, Thorin M.
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description The annual US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices represents one of the principal data sources used to generate multiple commonly used human rights measures. Despite the frequency with which these indicators are used in quantitative studies of human rights, scholars have rarely considered how the qualitative information in the source has varied over time. We contribute to this area of research by investigating the general changes in the amount of information included in the reports as well as the administration-specific changes in this information. Using automated text analysis techniques, we find that the amount of information in the reports generally increases over time. However, our analysis also reveals that the rate (and direction) of change varies across different human rights topics and across presidential administrations. Consequently, we find evidence to support a changing standard of accountability as well as evidence that political considerations shape human rights reporting.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Human Rights
Text as Data
Measurement
Methods
 
Date 2024-02-26
 
Contributor Cordell, Rebecca