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    2020 Jun 05

    Migrants in Hungary and the Role of Grassroots Groups

    Registration Closed 12:00pm to 1:15pm

    Location: 

    Virtual Event (Registration Required)

    Introducing activism through the lens of a solidarity group in Hungary.

    Panelists:

    • Aiski Ryokas | Activist
    • Aliz Pocsuvalszki | Activist
    • Mussa Kilam | Activist 
    • Amy Rodgers | Activist 
    • Camille Tournebize | Activist 
    • Aniko Bakonyi (co-moderator) | Topol Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy...
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    2020 Jun 12

    People Power in the Face of Authoritarianism in Nicaragua

    Registration Closed 12:00pm to 1:15pm

    Location: 

    Virtual Event (Registration Required)

    A conversation with Nicaraguan human rights defenders about the trials, triumphs and future challenges of people power in Nicaragua in a context of democratic decay, decreasing civic space and authoritarianism since the return of Daniel Ortega to power in 2007.

    Panelists

    • Amaya Coppens Zamora | Activist, Medical Student, Political Prisoner
    • Mateo Jarquín Chamorro | Assistant Professor, Chapman University 
    • Mónica López Baltodano | Activist,...
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    2020 Jun 11

    Police Brutality in the United States: A Conversation with Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

    Registration Closed 12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

    Virtual Event (Registration Required)

    The killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as countless black people has sparked protests around the country. Join the Carr Center for a conversation with Agnes Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Callamard and other UN experts have called on the U.S. government "to take decisive action to address systemic racism and racial bias in the criminal justice system by launching independent investigations and ensuring accountability in all cases of excessive use of force by police." 

    Read the ...

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    Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule
    Erica Chenoweth. 4/20/2020. “Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule.” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series, 2020-005. See full text.Abstract
    The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event. In this brief paper, author Erica Chenoweth addresses some of the common questions about the 3.5% rule, as well as several updates from more recent work on this topic.

    Four key takeaways are as follows:

    • The 3.5% figure is a descriptive statistic based on a sample of historical movements. It is not necessarily a prescriptive one, and no one can see the future. Trying to achieve the threshold without building a broader public constituency does not guarantee success in the future.
    • The 3.5% participation metric may be useful as a rule of thumb in most cases; however, other factors—momentum, organization, strategic leadership, and sustainability—are likely as important as large-scale participation in achieving movement success and are often precursors to achieving 3.5% participation.
    • New research suggests that one nonviolent movement, Bahrain in 2011-2014, appears to have decisively failed despite achieving over 6% popular participation at its peak. This suggests that there has been at least one exception to the 3.5% rule, and that the rule is a tendency, rather than a law.
    • Large peak participation size is associated with movement success. However, most mass nonviolent movements that have succeeded have done so even without achieving 3.5% popular participation. 

    Read the full paper. 

    2020 Oct 08

    Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the U.S.

    Registration Closed 10:00am to 11:30am

    Location: 

    Virtual Event (Registration Required)

    Please join the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy for the release of our report on Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States. We'll discuss the historical context in which this project was framed, recent developments around rollbacks and movements for expansion of rights, and policy recommendations for building a more robust commitment to rights and responsibilities around six broad areas, including equal protection and due process.  We'll also discuss results from our public opinion poll and townhalls across the United States, conducted with support from the...

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    Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States: Toward a More Equal Liberty
    John Shattuck and Mathias Risse. 10/8/2020. “Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States: Toward a More Equal Liberty.” Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States, 2020-01. See full text.Abstract

    Americans today know they face threats to their rights, their democracy, their health and their economy. These threats are interrelated and demand a transformative response. Transformations have occurred at other pivotal moments in our nation’s history—at its founding during the American Revolution, its Reconstruction after the Civil War, its recovery from the Great Depression, its rise after World War II, and its reimagining during the Civil Rights Movement. Can today become a similar moment of transformation, turning threats into opportunities through the power of civic activism, voting, and government response? Can we reimagine the promise of rights that bind us together as a nation of diverse histories, identities, and lived experiences? 
     
    With the release of their nonpartisan, evidence-based report, Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States, researchers at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights provide a guide for the nation wrestling with its values. This blueprint for protecting and expanding citizens’ rights proposes policy changes to strengthen democratic processes; safeguard equal protection, equal opportunity, and due process of law; and better protect freedoms of speech, media, religion and privacy. The Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities Project is directed by John Shattuck, Carr Center Senior Fellow and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The report and the project are overseen by a faculty committee chaired by Carr Center Faculty Director Mathias Risse.
     
    The report offers an in-depth analysis of the state of rights in America in 2020, and then offers 80 recommendations to address failures to protect these rights. The Reimagining Rights team researched fifteen topics in five broad categories that are fundamental to protecting and expanding citizens’ rights. The Carr Center will continue to publish the fifteen reports in the coming months that expand upon specific rights domains in greater detail, including voting rights, money in politics, civic education, racial equality, women’s rights, and other areas of research. Sign up for our newsletter and follow our social media channels to stay up-to-date as we release each report.

    Read the Executive Summary.

     

    Read the Additional Reports: 

    1. Voting Rights
    2. Money in Politics
    3. Civic Education
    4. Racial Discrimination
    5. Women's Rights
    6. LGBTQ+ Rights
    7. Disability Rights
    8. Equal Access
    9. Immigration
    10. Criminal Justice & Public Safety
    11. Gun Rights & Public Safety
    12. Freedom of Speech & Media
    13. Religious Freedom
    14. Hate Crimes
    15. Privacy, Personal Data, and Surveillance
    Resisting Trumpism in Europe and the United States
    John Shattuck. 12/2/2016. “Resisting Trumpism in Europe and the United States.” The American Prospect.Abstract
    Read the article by Senior Fellow John Shattuck: 

    Authoritarian democracy is on the march on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite alarming parallels, the U.S. remains better positioned to preserve and rebuild true democracy. 

    The election of Donald Trump shows what happens when democracy misfires. It echoes recent developments in Europe, most notably in Hungary and Poland, where elected leaders are attacking democratic pluralism, minority rights, and civil liberties, keeping the forms of democracy without the substance. The same trends are proceeding in France, the Netherlands, the U.K., and other European democracies where far-right parties under the banner of populist nationalism are pursuing racist and xenophobic objectives.

    Having returned to the United States this fall after seven years in Hungary, I am struck by the shocking parallel between what is happening in Europe and here at home. The Trump election signals a sharp turn toward the populist far right. The presidential campaign was marked by the denigration of women and minorities and the rhetoric of racial extremism. The president-elect’s early appointments include people with these views. Civil liberties are threatened. Foreign alliances are in jeopardy. The risk of war is heightened.

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