Rights Activism under Political Uncertainty (RightAct)

The project provides new empirical and theoretical knowledge about the dynamic relationship between political structures and human rights activism in Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria and Zimbabwe (main case) and in some other African countries (such as Zambia, Kenya and Sudan) where the parameters of civic space have oscillated over the past decade. An international research team employing a multi-method approach (qualitative interviews, text analysis, protest data from ACLED and survey experiment) are analysing how activists adjust their strategies vis-a-vis the authorities and changing legal framework as well as international donors and funding opportunities. The scope and strategies vary between human rights areas (LGBT, environment, women and labor rights), and preliminary findings from environmental organizations in Mali also show variation between organizations within the same theme depending on secondary foci (poverty, women's rights, children's rights), but also previous interactions with the authorities and funding sources. Through textual analysis of reports submitted by human rights organizations to the UN Human Rights Council, we look specifically at how activists change rhetoric and language when interacting with the international community. The project also examines the impact of different types of strategies on decision-makers and the public at large. At an individual level, we have conducted a survey experiment to measure how different communication strategies affect the importance of climate rights among the public in the Ivory Coast (global south) and in France (global north). Images of African women as victims of climate change had different effects: in the Ivory Coast this reduced political mobilization, while in France it increased support for financing climate measures in the global south. With this research agenda, the project is providing new empirical and theoretical knowledge, but also strengthening capacities of activists to promote human rights amidst a backdrop of democratic setbacks on the African continent.

The RightAct project aims to advance democratic theorizing and human rights empiricism by examining, first, how activists strategically respond to evolving political conditions and, second, assessing the subsequent impact of those responses on policymakers and the public. Over the past decade, rights activists have had to navigate an increasingly complex political landscape under governments claiming to adhere to electoral democracy and the rule of law while simultaneously enacting autocratic measures aimed at curtailing fundamental freedoms. In this context, the RightAct project will study the strategic adaptations that activists make as they seek to defend threatened rights or expand new rights. The project examines four interlocking questions: (1) How do human rights organizations alter their advocacy strategies (i.e., legislative, juridical, protest) in response to shifting political conditions? (2) How do human rights organizations alter the rhetorical strategies used to make rights-based claims as political conditions evolve? (3) Are certain advocacy or rhetorical strategies more likely to generate public support? (4) Are policymakers more receptive to particular advocacy and rhetorical strategies? These questions are pursued through a multi-method research design that systematically compares the strategies of rights activists operating across a range of domains, namely, traditional civil liberties such as speech and assembly; gender and sexuality rights; and labor and land rights. The research design specifically considers how domestic institutions (e.g., common law vs. civil code) and international epistemic communities (e.g., Commonwealth vs. Francophonie) constitute distinct opportunity structures that condition activists’ strategic choices in countries where the parameters of civic space have oscillated over the past decade -- and its future remains in doubt (Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe).