Politicization of the Trafficking in Persons Report; Is Political Proximity to the US Associated with Better Rankings?
Restricted Access
Creator
Roster, Kirstin
Advisor
Kern, Andreas
Abstract
Since 2001 the US Department of State has been publishing the annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), which serves as a diplomatic tool to engage countries in improving anti-trafficking policies, deterring and prosecuting criminals, and assisting victims. Low rankings can have severe negative economic consequences, which has helped the report achieve many positive policy changes to fight trafficking. At the same time, the TIP reports receive substantial criticism for their subjective rankings. News outlets and researchers claim that the rankings are inflated to serve US interests. As the existing evaluations of the TIP report are based largely on qualitative research or case studies, the question remains to what extent US foreign policy priorities drive country ratings in TIP reports. Put differently, do countries that have close political and economic ties with the US receive more favorable ratings? Building on a novel dataset, this paper aims to disentangle competing mechanisms that link US foreign policy interests to country rankings. My empirical results confirm the presence of political influence, which operates primarily through the diplomatic channel. Insofar, my paper contributes to the growing literature on the politicization of global rankings.
Description
M.P.P.
Permanent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1040854Date Published
2016Subject
Type
Embargo Lift Date
2018-05-27
Metadata
Show full item recordRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Don't Cry Politicization: To Call Biomedical Research Proposals Political Distorts the Issue
Goldston, David (2009-07-02) -
ALL RESOLUTIONS, LITTLE RESOLVE: FULLFILLING THE PROMISE TO END TRAFFICKING OF DISPLACED PERSONS
Jones, Michael Andrew (Georgetown University, 2012)ALL RESOLUTIONS, LITTLE RESOLVE: FULLFILLING THE