Human rights and the democratic proposition

Autocratization is expected to worsen human rights conditions; democratizat ion is frequently heralded as a means for improving them. Unfortunately, ne ither relationship has been subjected to empirical investigation. The causa l Linkage between regime change and state repression is examined in the cur rent study with a pooled cross-sectional time-series analysis of 137 countr ies from 1950 to 1982 (N = 4,521). Four aspects of change are considered: ( 1) direction, (2) magnitude, (3) "smoothness" of the transition, and (4) du ration of time at particular regime types. The results support the anticipa ted escalatory effect of autocratization for the magnitude variable, reveal ing influences that persist for 4 years. Additionally, there is support for the pacifying effect of democratization with regard to magnitude for the s ame 4-year time period. Direction, smoothness, and duration are found to be unimportant, but regime change does matter.