REPRESSION OF HUMAN-RIGHTS TO PERSONAL INTEGRITY IN THE 1980S - A GLOBAL ANALYSIS

This crossnational study seeks to explain variations in governmental r epression of human rights to personal integrity (state terrorism) in a 153-country sample during the eighties. We outline theoretical perspe ctives on this topic and subject them to empirical tests using a techn ique appropriate for our pooled cross-sectional time-series design, na mely, ordinary least squares with robust standard errors and a lagged dependent variable. We find democracy and participation in civil or in ternational war to have substantively important and statistically sign ificant effects on repression. The effects of economic development and population size are more modest. The hypothesis linking leftist regim e types to abuse of personal integrity rights receives some support. W e find no reliable evidence that population growth, British cultural i nfluence, military control, or economic growth affect levels of repres sion. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for scholars and practitioners concerned with the prevention of personal i ntegrity abuse.