{"id":111586,"date":"2026-10-22T13:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=111586"},"modified":"2026-10-22T20:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:51:47","slug":"uri-political-science-professors-co-author-new-book-analyzing-global-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/uri-political-science-professors-co-author-new-book-analyzing-global-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"URI political science professors co-author new book analyzing global human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
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URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies Director Skip Mark and Ashlea Rundlett, director of URI\u2019s graduate program in International Relations co-authored a new book, \u201cScience and the Study of Human Rights,\u201d along with researchers at Binghamton University in New York. (URI photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 22, 2026 \u2013 Basic human rights, in theory, should be guaranteed in society. On the surface, such rights are virtues that should be applied to everyone without fear of them being rolled back or revoked entirely by governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, around the world, not everyone has access to rights as basic as free speech, freedom from slavery and torture, fair trials and a right to an education. Surprisingly, some democratic nations are not as strong at providing human rights as non-democratic societies, prompting the simple question: Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new book co-written by researchers from the University of Rhode Island and Binghamton University in New York offers a framework for comparing human rights practices globally and over time, as well as offering theories about why some governments violate rights more often than others, both in developed and underdeveloped nations. \u201cScience and the Study of Human Rights<\/a>\u201d explains why the scientific method offers a powerful approach to studying human rights, and shows how systematic evidence can improve research, policy analysis and public understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cGovernments lie, so we cannot take their word for what their human rights practices look like. Plus, they\u2019re constantly trying to find new ways to lie about the violations they carry out,\u201d said Skip Mark<\/a>, director of the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies<\/a> and associate professor of political science. \u201cIt\u2019s why we need outside monitoring of these nations because governments will not regulate themselves and protect human rights without external pressure. The data noted in this book will shine a light on what is really happening in these countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark and Ashlea Rundlett<\/a>, director of URI\u2019s graduate program in International Relations, were joined by Binghamton University\u2019s David Cingranelli and Mikhail Filippov in authoring the book. Cingranelli serves as co-director of Binghamton\u2019s Human Rights Institute and distinguished professor of political science at the State University of New York, while Filippov is a political science professor at Binghamton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new book\u2014written for scholars, graduate students, governments and non-governmental organizations\u2014was inspired, in part, by URI\u2019s Global RIghts Project report<\/a>, which annually spotlights and analyzes human rights practices around the world, to better inform the public about human rights and which nations are better at upholding those liberties. Included in the book is information from the CIRIGHTS Data Project, which Mark co-directs, that provides numerical scores on how effective, or ineffective, countries are in protecting human rights of all kinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good or bad?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScience and the Study of Human Rights\u201d differentiates countries as either \u201coverperformers\u201d or \u201cunderperformers\u201d based on how countries honor their respective citizens\u2019 human rights compared to what is expected of them. The scores to create this dataset were produced by URI students taking the Topics in Political Science (PSC 312) and Human Rights (PSC 360) courses, as well as students from Binghamton University. While democracies and wealthy countries tend to perform better in terms of human rights, the book shares some surprising results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Rwanda and the Philippines, two countries lower on the economic scale, are noted in the book as \u201coverperformers.\u201d In contrast, nations such as Israel, Greece, Egypt, Paraguay, Guyana and Romania are among the \u201cunderperformers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are countries that do not have the level of wealth that we would expect given how well they are protecting human rights. These countries are able to overcome some of those barriers,\u201d Rundlett said. \u201cOn the other hand, some countries that have wealth and democracy are not performing as well as we think they should, given those other characteristics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States is an underperformer as well, of sorts, per the book. On a scale between 0 and 100, the U.S. government\u2019s score for human rights is 63, above the median score of 52. However, Mark said among developed countries the U.S. is \u201cat the bottom of the barrel\u201d and should be rated much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark said the U.S. has had every advantage in helping lay the foundation for basic human rights\u2014the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, wealth, etc. But he says that system is deteriorating, with the book noting that things can get worse and American society \u201cshould be worried.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Mark said the U.S. Department of State no longer offers the comprehensive human rights report on which CIRIGHTS previously based its data, further complicating how researchers can compare data annually to see if human rights issues are improving or worsening.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding one\u2019s rights and whether their government is underperforming can prime citizens for action, says Mark. \u201cThey can make demands of their governments, and that creates pressure to address human rights problems. Protest is important,\u201d Mark said. \u201cThe media objectively covering this news, and not framing the narrative as purely domestic politics, is also crucial. It requires people to activate accountability mechanisms. Vote for people into office who are going to address this problem. Teach children in schools what their rights are and that they should be upset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming conference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coinciding with the book\u2019s release, the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies will hold a special conference on Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 12:30-2 p.m.<\/strong>, in the Galanti Lounge of the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons, 15 Lippitt Road, on the Kingston Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will feature noted human rights scholars in a panel discussion to be moderated by Roya Izadi<\/a>, URI assistant political science professor and CNVPS\u2019 associate director. Rebecca Cordell, from the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s political science department; Stephen Bagwell, from the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and K. Chad Clay, from the University of Georgia, are expected to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark said the conference will discuss both the new book and its findings and provide an overall view of human rights matters around the world, the U.S. notwithstanding. Those seeking to attend and for more information are to contact Mark at 401-874-4055 or skipmark@uri.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 22, 2026 \u2013 Basic human rights, in theory, should be guaranteed in society. On the surface, such rights are virtues that should be applied to everyone without fear of them being rolled back or revoked entirely by governments. Yet, around the world, not everyone has access to rights as basic as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":111587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1909,1905],"class_list":["post-111586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-international","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111600,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111586\/revisions\/111600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}