Democracy, human rights, and US-Africa trade

The nexus of economic and political relations is a central issue in interna tional relations, and the influence of political liberalization upon trade ties lies at the center of much liberal theory. However, many facets of the empirical linkage between political liberalization-including democratizati on and the respect for human rights-and trade remain uninvestigated. Examin ing the case of U.S.-Africa trade, this study considers two unexplored face ts of these political determinants of trade: (1) the role of human rights c onditions, and (2) the robustness of the relationship between democracy, hu man rights, and trade across a subset of vertical dyads. Using a gravity mo del to assess trade patterns, we find that neither democracy nor human righ ts conditions has a significant impact upon U.S. trade to Africa.