How do third-party interventions affect the severity of mass killings? The authors theorize that episodes of mass killing are the consequence of two factors: (1) the threat perceptions of the perpetrators and (2) the cost of implementing genocidal policies relative to other alternatives. To...

The normative transfer thesis posits that systematic discrimination, inequality, and repression are indicative of violent norms within states, which extend to the realm of foreign policy. In this article, the authors contend that the pacifying influence of similarity conditions the impact of...

Although they are arguably the worst violators of human rights, dictators sometimes commit to international human rights treaties like the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) to appease their domestic opposition. Importantly, however, executives facing effective judiciaries must...