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Do Global Publics View Human Rights Organizations as Handmaidens of the United States?
Author(s) -
Crow David,
Ron James
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
political science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1538-165X
pISSN - 0032-3195
DOI - 10.1002/polq.13000
Subject(s) - publics , political science , human rights , public administration , political economy , law , sociology , politics
In the spring of 2014, a group of prominent commentators slammed the New York–based organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) for maintaining a “revolving door” with the U.S. government. Exhibit A, the critics said, was Tom Malinowski, a senior staffer who had joined HRW in 2001 after seven years working in the U.S. government, returned to government service from 2013 to 2017, and then was elected as a New Jersey congressman in 2018. This and similar cases, the critics said, made HRW appear overly cozy with U.S. officialdom. Given “the impact of global perceptions on HRW’s ability to carry out its work,” the letter writers opined, even the “appearance of impropriety” undermined the organization’s credibility.