International Politics of Human Rights (Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach)

The professorship for International Politics of Human Rights is dedicated to empirical, policy-oriented human rights research.

We understand universal human rights as a social construction – as a normative claim that has been codified in international law because of political struggle. Human rights remain contested to this day. We study the actors that demand and deny human rights (social movements, non-governmental organizations, states, businesses, international organizations, etc.). In particular, we examine their claims, interests, power resources, and institutional practices. We are also interested in the actors’ tactical repertoire and how it responds to changing political opportunity structures. Furthermore, we study the worldwide implementation of human rights, with a focus on civil liberties and their limitation in the context of political repression.

Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach holds the professorship since 1 September 2019. She currently coordinates a research project that aims to produce a dataset on the worldwide realization of academic freedom. Project partners are the V-Dem Institute, the Global Public Policy Institute and the Scholars at Risk Network.