Peer-Reviewed Publications (22)​

​

Political Science

​​

(1) Vilán, Andrea, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. “Internal Dynamics of Transnational Advocacy Networks.” In Forum: Challenges and Opportunities for Transnational Advocacy. Forthcoming in International Studies Review.

​

In this essay, we explore internal challenges (and opportunities) that transnational advocacy networks must navigate to advance their causes. First, we consider unequal or asymmetric power and influence within networks, which can, but do not always, raise representational dilemmas and engender conflicts over whose ideas should be pursued and whose ideas should be set aside. Second, we address differences in values, strategies, and tactics among network members, which can create conflicts, on the one hand, and can spur growth, on the other hand. Third, we draw attention to individuals, who possess moral authority, technical expertise, and power and influence in their own right, but whose impact is not always highlighted in the networks in which they work. Fourth, we note that not all potential partners come together and collaborate within networks: some potential partners may be unaware of a network and therefore do not join it, while others may intentionally not join it. Others, still, may be excluded, while yet others may strategically hide their connection to a network. Individually and jointly, these internal dynamics of transnational advocacy networks raise conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and inferential challenges for researchers. We offer some possible solutions and invite continued scholarly engagement and progress. ​​

​​

 

(2) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, and Alan J. Simmons. "Do Americans Support War Crimes Prosecutions?" Forthcoming in Foreign Policy Analysis.

​

Do Americans support war crimes prosecutions? Historically, the United States has considered itself a torchbearer of international criminal justice, leading the establishment of tribunals in Nuremberg, Tokyo, The Hague, and Arusha. The United States even participated in the drafting of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC). Yet the nation was not the subject of an international criminal tribunal – until the ICC's Afghanistan investigation, which covers, among others, the Afghan National Security Forces, the Taliban, and U.S. military and intelligence personnel. Previous scholarship shows Americans support the ICC and U.S. membership. However, almost all of this research precedes the Afghanistan investigation, leaving open two important questions: (1) is the public's support conditional on the ICC not investigating and prosecuting U.S. personnel and (2) what discursive frames (i.e., arguments) support or undermine the ICC's efforts? Extending research on U.S. foreign policy public opinion, we evaluate the proposition that human rights arguments will increase and national interest arguments will decrease support for the ICC's work in Afghanistan. We test this proposition using an online survey experiment. The upshot is Americans are fairly fixed in their opinions and the vast majority support war crimes prosecutions.

 

​

(3) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, and Stephen Chaudoin. "Complementarity and Public Views on Overlapping International and Domestic Courts." Forthcoming in Journal of Politics.​ [Ungated] [Data] 

• Mentions in practitioner reports: "From Building Bombs to Building Futures: A new U.S. approach to mass atrocity prevention," by Win Without War

​

Can international organizations (IOs) boost support for their authority? We consider the effectiveness of appeals to the principle of complementarity, which holds that IOs only act when domestic institutions fail. Supporters of IOs like the International Criminal Court (ICC) frequently use complementarity as an argument to rally support for international action and spur domestic action. We evaluate the effectiveness of complementarity arguments using the largest survey experiment on the ICC to date, with more than 10,000 participants in five countries whose cooperation could be pivotal for the Court: Georgia, Israel, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. We find only modest evidence that complementarity arguments improve public support for either ICC investigations or domestic investigations – effects which vary across countries. This suggests that a major argument thought to legitimate IOs may not persuade global publics. Instead, an IO’s negative judgment of domestic actions may be perceived as paternalistic or, in Global South contexts, neocolonial.

​

​

(4) Byrne, Alexandra,* Bilen Zerie,* and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2024. "Producing Truth: Public Memory Projects in Post-Violence Societies." Human Rights Quarterly 46(2): 207–233. [Ungated] [Data]

​

How do societies remember historical political violence? We draw on an original dataset of more than 150 memorialization projects proposed by truth commissions in 28 post-violence countries, from 1970 to 2018. These projects include the removal of monuments, installation of museums, inauguration of national days of remembrance, and more. Truth commission recommendations data allows us to not only consider memory sites once established, but also to examine blueprints for the types of memory that could have been made. We develop a typology and inductively generate a theory of the political contests and conflicts that different memory projects are likely to trigger—contests and conflicts that we expect influence the likelihood of project initiation and completion. We conduct an initial probe of the theory using our new data. In so doing, we offer the first systematic, global study of setting and implementing the memorialization agenda in post-violence societies.

​

​

(5) Scott, Jamil S., Daniel Solomon, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2024. "Historical Violence and Public Attitudes Towards Justice: Evidence from the United States." In Special issue: Race, Racism and Transitional Justice. International Journal of Transitional Justice 18(1): 84–108.​ [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

• Mentions by practitioners: Maryland Lynching Memorial Project June and July 2024 newsletters

​​

This article brings transitional justice scholarship to bear on the case of racial violence in the United States. We investigate how knowledge of racial terror lynchings shapes Black Americans’ support for symbolic and material transitional justice measures. We administer a survey with an embedded experiment to Black residents in Maryland, a US transitional justice pioneer. We provide select respondents information about historical lynching violence and find that they are more likely to support symbolic transitional justice (e.g., apologies and memorial markers) than individuals presented information on contemporary police killings. Regarding material transitional justice (e.g., monetary reparations and community projects), we find no significant differences between groups. Linked fate excepted, we do not find that key aspects of Black identity and the Black American experience (i.e., historical knowledge, police contact, church involvement, and Black nationalist beliefs) moderate transitional justice attitudes. Our work indicates the promise and limits of information campaigns to mobilize support for transitional justice.

​

​

(6) Mulesky, Suzie, Wayne Sandholtz, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2024. "Do Human Rights Treaty Obligations Matter for Ratification?" Journal of Human Right​s 23(1): 1–18. *Lead Article* [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

​

International relations scholarship assumes that states weigh the costs and benefits of treaty ratification. In human rights, the worse a particular state’s record, the higher the presumptive costs of ratification and the lower the likelihood of ratification. But prior work neglects variation in the extent of obligation that different treaties create. In this article, we argue and demonstrate that (1) human rights treaties differ substantially in the scope and scale of the obligations they contain, (2) this variation can be measured, and (3) it matters for ratification. Treaties that create a larger number of demanding obligations imply greater potential costs of compliance for states. The larger the number of demanding obligations, the more grounds various actors will have to challenge a state’s practices. We analyze innovative data on treaty obligations and commitments for the ten core global human rights treaties to test our propositions, and we find strong support.

​

​

(7) Gillooly, Shauna N., Daniel Solomon, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2024. "Co-Opting Truth: Explaining Quasi-Judicial Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes." Human Rights Quarterly 46(1): 67–97. [Ungated] [Data]

​

What accounts for the creation, design, and outputs of quasi-judicial institutions in autocracies? Prior research demonstrates that autocrats co-opt electoral, legislative, and judicial institutions to curtail opponents' power and curry international patrons' favor. However, scholarship on co-optation neglects quasi-judicial mechanisms, such as truth commissions, that can be useful for arranging a political narrative that bolsters a leader’s image while undermining his rivals. In this article, we formalize the concept of autocratic truth commissions—which account for one-third of truth commissions globally—and develop and test a novel theory of their origins, inputs, and outputs. We theorize that autocrats establish self-investigating commissions in response to threats to their symbolic authority and install rival-investigating commissions in response to threats to both symbolic authority and regime survival. We further argue that these two commission types take on different institutional forms and produce different outputs. Self-investigating commissions are afforded narrow mandates and produce reports that obscure basic facts. Meanwhile, rival-investigating commissions are granted wide mandates and culminate in accurate reports of rivals' responsibility for abuses. We evaluate these expectations through comparative case studies of two autocratic truth commissions in Uganda, and find support.

​

​

(8) Boyes, Christina, Cody D. Eldredge, Megan Shannon, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2024. "Social Pressure in the International Human Rights Regime: Why States Withdraw Treaty Reservations." British Journal of Political Science 54(1): 241–259. [Open Access] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

 

States often use reservations to modify their treaty obligations. Prior research demonstrates why states enter reservations and why states object to reservations, but little work explains why states withdraw them. We argue that states withdraw reservations in response to international social pressure. Using novel data on reservations and reservation withdrawals for the nine core international human rights treaties, our analyses reveal two factors that compel states to withdraw reservations: (1) pressure from peer states and (2) pressure from human rights treaty bodies conducting periodic reviews. While previous work emphasize domestic factors, our research shows that the international community encourages states to withdraw reservations and strengthen their commitments to human rights and international law.

​

​

(9) Solis, Jonathan A., and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2023. "Defending the Watchdogs: How Citizens and Courts Protect the Press." Journal of Human Right​s 22(3): 367–385. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

​

A free and independent press monitors government actions, broadcasts public grievances, and facilitates debate and dissent among citizens. Because of this, some executives run interference – censoring newspapers, harassing journalists, and shutting down media outlets. But, other executives do not. What explains this variation? We argue that executives decide to repress or to respect the press based on the sanctions they anticipate from two important constituencies: courts and citizens. We expect that attacks are less likely where courts can make adverse rulings and where citizens can vote leaders out of office. In addition, we suggest that these constraints can function as substitutes; we anticipate the reductive effect of judicial independence wanes as the level of electoral democracy rises, making courts vital to protecting journalists in less democratic systems. We evaluate these expectations using panel data on executive branch attacks on the press in 175 countries, from 1949 to 2016, and find strong support.

​

​

(10) Posthumus, Daniel,* and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2021. "Democratizing Truth: An Analysis of Truth Commissions in the United States." International Journal of Transitional Justice 15(3): 510–532. [Ungated] [Data]

• Mentions in practitioner reports: "Racial Reckoning in the United States: Expanding and Innovating on the Global Transitional Justice Experience," by Ashley Quarcoo and Medina Husakovic for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

​

Over the past half-century, numerous transitional justice (TJ) measures have been implemented globally. While much research has examined different TJ modalities in the aftermath of authoritarian rule and armed conflict, a growing body of work recognizes TJ outside of political transitions. We study a noteworthy export from transitional to non-transitional settings: truth commissions. Building on scholarship on TJ in established democracies, we introduce new quantitative data from the Varieties of Truth Commissions Project on truth commissions in an overlooked but significant case: the United States. The data captures 20 past, present and proposed official US truth commissions, most of them at the subnational level. Though their mandates vary considerably, they all address racial injustice, with an emphasis on anti-Indigenous and anti-Black violence. We elaborate on trends in the data and discuss the implications for unfolding efforts to reckon with historical and contemporary racial violence and injustice in the United States.

​

​

(11) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2021. "Stay the Hand of Justice? US Resistance to the International Criminal Court." In Boyer, Mark A., and Cameron Thies (Editors). In Forum: Did "America First" Construct America Irrelevant? International Studies Perspectives 22(4): 483–486. [Ungated]

​

The United States, a key architect of global governance institutions in the twentieth century, has moderated its international engagement in the twenty-first century. In climate governance, the United States signed but did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, then acceded to but ultimately withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord. In trade, the United States entered but later abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And in human rights, the United States failed to join core treaties like the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The United States’ withdrawal from these and other international regimes sparks the question: Has “America First” made America irrelevant? I focus my answer to this question on the United States’ refusal to join the ICC, the apogee of the international criminal justice system that it helped build. I argue that, despite the efforts of antiglobalists and rule-of-law obstructionists like Donald Trump, the United States remains relevant to international criminal justice and may yet strengthen it, albeit unintentionally.

​

​

(12) Rana, Sameer S.J.B.,** and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2021. "Safeguarding Truth: Supporting Children's Participation at Truth Commissions." Journal of Human Rights 20(3): 282–303. [Ungated]

​

Children are among the most vulnerable groups during periods of repression and conflict, and their exposure to violence can have long-term effects on their development, including how they manage and express feelings of fear, anger, and shame. Children’s engagement in subsequent transitional justice processes, such as truth commissions, can also shape their development and that of their nations, but for the better. Surprisingly, little scholarship considers how commissions have been designed to effectively and responsibly secure children’s involvement, notably their testimonies. We develop a design-based theory of children’s participation in commissions. We then probe, through case studies of the commissions in South Africa, Timor-Leste, and Sierra Leone, the influence of three institutional features on children’s participation: (1) provisions for children in the mandate, (2) targeted outreach, and (3) measures for protection and psychosocial support. We find broad support for the theory and conclude by discussing the implications of the evidence for scholars and practitioners.

 

 

(13) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, Wayne Sandholtz, and Suzie Mulesky. 2020. "Reserving Rights: Explaining Human Rights Treaty Reservations." International Studies Quarterly 64(4): 785–797. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]​

• Winner of the 2019 Best Paper Award from the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association

​

International relations scholarship has made significant strides in explaining how states design treaty obligations and why they accept treaty commitments. However, far less attention has been paid to factors that may influence states’ modification of their treaty obligations via reservations. We theorize that states will be more likely to enter reservations when treaty obligations increase compliance costs and policy adjustment costs. More specifically, we expect that demanding provisions, i.e., provisions that create strong, precise obligations requiring domestic action, will enhance the likelihood of reservation. To test our theory, we exploit an original dataset that codes reservations at the provision (treaty–article–paragraph) level for the ten core international human rights treaties. Consistent with our expectations, we find that states are more likely to enter reservations on more demanding treaty provisions. In contrast to prior studies, our results indicate that reservations are not driven purely by state-level characteristics such as regime type or the nature of the legal system. Rather, it appears that states weigh individual treaty obligations and calibrate their commitments accordingly.

​

​

(14) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, and Benjamin A.T. Graham. 2020. "The World Bank as an Enforcer of Human Rights." Journal of Human Rights 19(4): 425–448. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

• Winner of the 2019 Best Paper Award from the Human Rights Section of the International Studies Association

• Winner of the 2018 Best Faculty Paper Award from the West Region of the International Studies Association

• Watch an explainer video

​

Since the 1990s, the World Bank’s Inspection Panel and Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) have responded to hundreds of human rights complaints filed by or on behalf of project-affected communities. Yet, little is known about complaint outcomes and factors that enhance the likelihood of complaint success. We theorize that complaints involving indigenous communities, or those pertaining to involuntary resettlement and severe environmental impacts, will be more likely to result in a favorable outcome due to the Bank’s novel policies governing these issues. We also expect that NGO-supported communities are more likely to succeed due to organizational capacity, expertise, and advocacy. We evaluate these expectations using an original dataset of Inspection Panel and CAO complaints (1993–2017). We find strong support for our expectations about indigenous communities, weak support for projects involving involuntary resettlement, and no support for environmentally-risky projects. NGO support is strongly associated with complaint success, perhaps principally due to screening.

​

​

(15) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2020. "Demanding Truth: The Global Transitional Justice Network and the Creation of Truth Commissions." International Studies Quarterly 64(3): 609–625. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data]

• Mentions in practitioner reports: "Measuring Results and Monitoring Progress of Transitional Justice Processes," by Mateo Porciuncula for the International Center for Transitional Justice

​

Since 1970, scores of states have established truth commissions to document political violence. Despite their prevalence and potential consequence, the question of why commissions are adopted in some contexts, but not in others, is not well understood. Relatedly, little is known about why some commissions possess strong investigative powers while others do not. I argue that the answer to both questions lies with domestic and international civil society actors, who are connected by a global transitional justice (TJ) network and who share the burden of guiding commission adoption and design. I propose that commissions are more likely to be adopted where network members can leverage information and moral authority over governments. I also suggest that commissions are more likely to possess strong powers where international experts, who steward TJ best practices, advise governments. I evaluate these expectations by analyzing two datasets in the novel Varieties of Truth Commissions Project, interviews with representatives from international non-governmental organizations, interviews with Guatemalan non-governmental organization leaders, a focus group with Argentinian human rights advocates, and a focus group at the International Center for Transitional Justice. My results indicate that network members share the burden—domestic members are essential to commission adoption, while international members are important for strong commission design.

​

​

(16) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2019. "Human Rights versus National Interests: Shifting US Public Attitudes on the International Criminal Court." International Studies Quarterly 63(4): 1065–1078. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] [Data] 

• Runner-Up for the 2020 Steven C. Poe Award from the Human Rights Section of the International Studies Association

• Winner of the 2018 Best Paper Award from the Social Sciences Division of the USC Graduate Research Symposium

​​

The United States—an architect of international criminal tribunals in the twentieth century—has since moderated its involvement in international justice. Striking to many observers is the United States’ failure to join the International Criminal Court—the institutional successor to the tribunals the nation helped install in Germany, Japan, the Balkans, and Rwanda. Interestingly, the US public’s support of the ICC increases yearly despite the government’s ambivalence about, and even hostility toward, the Court. Drawing on the US foreign policy public opinion literature, I theorize that human rights frames increase support for joining the ICC among Americans, whereas national interest frames decrease support. I administer an online survey experiment to evaluate these expectations and find consistent support. I additionally test hypotheses from the framing literature in American politics regarding the effect of exposure to two competing frames. I find that participants exposed to competing frames hold more moderate positions than participants exposed to a single frame but differ appreciably from the control group. Crucially, I find that participants’ beliefs about international organizations’ effectiveness and impartiality are equally, if not more, salient than the treatments. Thus, the ICC may be able to mobilize support and pressure policy change by demonstrating effectiveness and impartiality.

​

​

(17) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2019. "Designing Truth: Facilitating Perpetrator Testimony at Truth Commissions." Journal of Human Rights 18(1): 92–110. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials] 

• Distinction in the Senior Exercise (International Relations), Pomona College

​

Truth commissions aim to promote transparency, accountability, and reconciliation by compiling detailed narratives of political violence. To achieve this end, both victims and perpetrators of abuses must testify. Yet, little is known about how commissions can be designed to facilitate perpetrator testimony. This article develops a theory of perpetrator participation in truth commissions, with a focus on institutional design. The article then evaluates the effectiveness of four design features—amnesties, subpoena powers, dual-party agreements, and spiritual frameworks—in facilitating perpetrator testimony in the truth commissions in Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Timor-Leste. The analysis indicates that the theoretical constructs developed are present, functional, and influential for perpetrator participation in the three commissions. And, while no individual design feature is essential, the case studies reveal that perpetrator participation may not be forthcoming without a robust dual-party agreement and/or a resonant spiritual framework. This underscores the importance of normative foundations for perpetrators’ engagement with commissions. Crucially, though advantageous features may be present, the criteria required for them to function may not be met, resulting in no effect or a negative effect on participation.

​

​

Pedagogy and Inclusion

 

(18) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, Arturo Sotomayor, Maria Rost Rublee, Meredith Loken, George Karavas, and Constance Duncombe. 2023. "Race and Racial Exclusion in Security Studies: A Survey of Scholars." In Special Issue: Race and Security. Security Studies 32(4–5): 593–621. *Lead Article* [Open Access]​ [Data] 

​

Increased attention to racialized knowledge and methodological whiteness has swept the political science discipline, especially international relations. Yet an important dimension of race and racism continues to be ignored: the presence and status of scholars of color in the discipline. In contrast to other fields, there is little research on (under)representation of scholars of color in security studies, and no systematic studies of race and racial exclusion that center their voices and experiences. Building on scholarship that contends with the fundamental whiteness of academia and knowledge creation, we present results from a 2019 survey of members of the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association. The data show that scholars of color and white scholars experience the field in dramatically different ways; scholars of color report at greater rates feeling unwelcome, experiencing harassment, and desiring more professional development opportunities. Dozens of studies across academia support these findings.

​

​

(19) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, Paula M. Pickering, Jaime Settle, and Michael J. Tierney. 2023. "Creating New Knowledge with Undergraduate Students: Institutional Incentives and Faculty Agency." In Special Issue: Undergraduate Involvement in Research. PS: Political Science & Politics 56(4): 512–518. [Open Access]

​

Undergraduates today face a more demanding and competitive labor market than their parents’ generation. In response, some pursue double majors to signal breadth to potential employers and improve their job prospects. Some also realize that a strong signal of workplace readiness is acquiring in-demand skills acquired through independent and collaborative research. In this article, four professors at an undergraduate-focused public university share experiences working with undergraduates on research, with a focus on the “supply side” of student research training and mentoring. We shed light on how institutions can support differently-situated faculty, facing different career incentives and constraints, to integrate undergraduates in research. We also address the limits of what is possible for faculty-student research and suggest some ways to overcome them.

​

​

(20) Irgil, Ezgi, Anne-Kathrin Kreft, Myunghee Lee, Charmaine N. Willis, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2021. "Field Research: A Graduate Student's Guide." International Studies Review 23(4): 1495–1517. [Ungated]

​

What is field research? Is it just for qualitative scholars? Must it be done in a foreign country? How much time in the field is “enough”? A lack of disciplinary consensus on what constitutes “field research” or “fieldwork” has left graduate students in political science under-informed and thus under-equipped to leverage site-intensive research to address issues of interest and urgency across the subfields. Uneven training in doctoral programs has also left early-career researchers under-prepared for the logistics of fieldwork – from developing networks and effective sampling strategies to building respondents’ trust – and related issues of funding, physical safety, mental health, research ethics, and crisis response. Based on the experience of five junior scholars, this article offers answers to crucial questions that graduate students puzzle over, often without the benefit of others’ “lessons learned.” This practical guide engages theory and praxis, in support of an epistemologically and methodologically pluralistic discipline.

​

​

(21) Becker, Megan, Benjamin A.T. Graham, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2021. "The Stewardship Model: An Inclusive Approach to Undergraduate Research." In Mendez Garcia, Matthew, and Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro (Editors). Symposium: Racial and Ethnic Diversity Within Political Science. PS: Political Science & Politics 54(1): 158–162. [Ungated] [Supplementary Materials]

 

The field of social science lacks diversity, in both academia and industry. One cause is the pipeline problem. Too few students from diverse backgrounds—notably, first- generation college students and students of color—pursue social science undergraduate and graduate degrees. And, those who do are disproportionately likely to exit their respective fields. In response to these twin institutional failures, we have developed a new model of mentored undergraduate research experiences, the Stewardship Model of Mentoring, designed to enhance the presence and status of social scientists from diverse backgrounds through targeted recruitment, technical training, and multi-level mentoring. In this article, we detail the theory and practice of the Stewardship Model within our collaborative research laboratory, and we invite scholars to join a newly-piloted multi-institution survey effort to assess the effects of this and other undergraduate research experiences on the attitudes, skill development, and psycho-social well-being of students from a range of backgrounds.

​

​

(22) Becker, Megan, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2020. "Smoothing the Pipeline: A Strategy to Match Graduate Training with the Professional Demands of Professorship." Journal of Political Science Education 16(3): 357–368. [Ungated]

 

Faculty recruitment and PhD student placement have become increasingly competitive over the past decade. The emphasis of graduate student training—research above all else—often means a difficult transition into the professoriate, where expectations for faculty are broadened to include teaching and service. In response, we offer a model of an organizational structure for research in which (1) graduate students gain opportunities to collaborate on research with faculty, (2) teach in their areas of expertise, and (3) begin their mentoring careers. We argue that these structures will help “smooth the pipeline” between graduate school and academic jobs and will be particularly helpful in supporting graduate students from historically underrepresented groups.

​

​​

​

​

Editor-Reviewed Publications (9)​

​

Political Science

​

(1) Sandholtz, Wayne, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. "The International Norms Enterprise." In Orchard, Phil, Antje Wiener, and Sassan Gholiagha (Editors). The Oxford Handbook on Norms Research in International Relations. Forthcoming with Oxford University Press.

 

International norms have a paradoxical quality. On the one hand, at any given moment, they must appear fixed. Actors, as they decide on a course of action for the coming days or months, need to know whether an act is required, prohibited, or permitted. Other members of the relevant community need a stable standard against which to judge that actor’s conduct. Without a sense of fixity, norms would not provide what they must, namely, standards of conduct to guide the choices of those subject to them. On the other hand, norms are constantly evolving. Even international law—the most codified, formal subset of international norms—is a motion picture: the image is constantly moving, though at any instant it is frozen in a specific frame. Some research and commentary evaluates the motion picture, often over stretches of time covering decades or even centuries. Other research assesses the status and meaning of norms at a given moment, or with respect to a specific set of events. The challenge of understanding and explaining the processes of international norm change generally requires the longer-term perspective. In this chapter, we center the dynamic perspective, focusing on how international norms change in response to disputes that bring into play the shifting beliefs and interests of governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, activists, political entrepreneurs, and publics. 

​

​

(2) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, and Francesca Parente. 2025. "The Afterlives of Transitional Justice." International Journal of Transitional Justice 19(1): 1–19 *Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue*

​

Rising authoritarianism, far-right parties and violent political movements in the 21st century prompt scholars and practitioners to revisit two foundational assumptions in the transitional justice field, which was established in the 20th century amid the third wave of democratization. The first is that transitional justice is a consequence and a cause of democratic transition and consolidation. The second is that transitional justice has been a successful global project. Current political developments challenge us to take stock of the field and consider the implications for current and future scholarship and practice. In this introduction to the ‘Afterlives of Transitional Justice’ special issue of the International Journal of Transitional Justice (IJTJ), we first reflect on the many forms (‘lives’) that transitional justice has taken over the decades. The contributions address transitional justice’s life in three ways: as the transition to democracy, as the tools and processes themselves and as an academic and practice field. We then consider evolution and change in transitional justice (‘afterlives’). In increasingly perilous times for human rights, we hope that the insights gathered in these pages will help affected communities, activists, practitioners, policymakers and scholars look back in order to move forward and uphold the promise ‘Never again!’

​

​

(3) Rudling, Adriana,*** Elijah Tsai,* Kelebogile Zvobgo, and Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm. 2024. "Monitoreo, Evaluación e Incidencia para la Implementación de las Recomendaciones de las Comisiones de la Verdad [Monitoring, Evaluation and Advocacy for the Implementation of Truth Commission Recommendations]." Policy Briefs del Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz 2024(18): 1–11.

​​

En sus informes finales, las comisiones de la verdad recomiendan diversas medidas para reparar los daños ocurridos en el pasado y prevenir los futuros. Recientemente, se ha comenzado a estudiar más estos organismos y la elaboración e implementación de sus recomendaciones. Algunas investigaciones resaltan la importancia de crear órganos de monitoreo, evaluación e incidencia (órganos de mei) que guíen a los gobiernos en la implementación de las recomendaciones. A partir de datos novedosos de trece comisiones de la verdad en Latinoamérica, este policy brief analiza los distintos tipos de órganos de mei, así como sus mandatos en los casos en que se han adoptado. También se identifican las variaciones en sus funciones y se discute brevemente su trabajo y sus resultados. Al final se brindan recomendaciones sobre la mejor manera de establecer e implementar las funciones de monitoreo, evaluación e incidencia para las comisiones de la verdad.

​​

​

(4) Murphy, Colleen, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. 2023. "Transitional Justice for Historical Injustice." In Lawther, Cheryl, and Luke Moffett (Editors). Research Handbook on Transitional Justice, 2nd edition (pp. 421–435). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.​​ [Ungated]

​

Historical injustice (political violence, for our purpose) is temporally distant and sometimes temporally extended. The transatlantic slave trade and colonialism are two prominent examples. Violence in the past reverberates into the present. Descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas are subjected to structural, state and interpersonal violence and discrimination, and citizens of former European colonies still pay the consequences of land and labour exploitation and experience the after-effects of being denied self-determination and self-governance. This chapter explores possibilities for transitional justice for historical political violence, with an emphasis on racialized violence. Throughout, we address both slavery and colonialism. While some scholarly and public discussions often separate the two, discussing each in isolation, this separation is a mistake. Slavery was one of the engines of colonialism; the so-called New World was built through the labour of enslaved peoples on stolen Indigenous land. Part of our argument draws attention to the problems that arise when states try to divide history into discrete periods and pursue piecemeal transitional justice. We begin the chapter by discussing some of the reasons why historical injustice should be included in transitional justice. We then turn to the challenges of doing so. Finally, we explore how transitional justice efforts might be re-imagined to better respond to historical injustice.

​

​

(5) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2023. “Unequal Justice Under Law.” In Kaur, Ravinder, Sean Molloy, Inderjeet Parmar, Jelena Subotić, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. In Forum: Putin’s Ukraine Aggression. International Politics 69(1): 245–249. [Open Access]

​

From executions of civilians in Bucha, bombings of residential areas in Borodyanka, and an airstrike on a Kramatorsk train station, to name just a few, there is a growing mountain of evidence of atrocity crimes by Russia in Ukraine. Ukrainian courts, European courts in Poland and elsewhere, and several international courts are on the case, considering a range of violations of international law by Russia. Regrettably, international courts are not equipped to hold powerful leaders and nations accountable for abuses. This is not a defect of the courts themselves, to be sure. Rather, it is a feature of the international system in which these courts are embedded. It is the international system that deprives them of crucial powers and opportunities to mete out equal justice for grave breaches of international law.

 

​

Pedagogy and Inclusion

​​

(6) Parente, Francesca, and Kelebogile Zvobgo. “Academic Networks as Research and Learning Communities.” In Gibney, Mark,  Bonny Ibhawoh, and Shareen Hertel (Editors). The Role of Networks in Advancing Human Rights. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Submitted.

​

Networking in academia for junior scholars is often emphasized as vertical: meet and greet the big names, make a good impression when your advisor introduces you. While vertical networking is important, in this chapter, we emphasize an often overlooked aspect of networking: building horizontal, or peer, networks. In this chapter, we describe how we built our peer network and how this network has contributed to our research, teaching, mentorship, and service.

​

​

(7) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2024. "Teaching Research Inside and Outside the Classroom." In Murphy, Michael P. A., and Misbah Hyder (Editors). Teaching Political Science and International Relations for Early Career Instructors (pp. 125–139). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

​

The near-exclusive focus on research in PhD training often leaves new graduates under-prepared for the professorate. While research is highly valued in hiring, tenure, and promotion processes at major research universities and elite liberal arts colleges, teaching and service are also important. In this chapter, I discuss how I teach research inside and outside the classroom—to develop a pipeline of new researchers, some of whom assist me in and collaborate with me on research. I learned to do this through mentorship I received in graduate school, and through trial and error. These experiences have enabled me to teach and mentor students while maintaining a high research output. My experiences at three different institutions—as an undergraduate student at a small liberal arts college, a graduate student at a major research university, and a professor at a comprehensive university—also helped me speak to research and teaching across institutional settings.

​

 

(8) Zvobgo, Kelebogile, Charmaine Willis, Myunghee Lee, Anne-Kathrin Kreft, and Ezgi Irgil. 2022. "Fieldwork." In Lorentz, Kevin G., Daniel J. Mallinson, Julia Marin Hellwege, Davin Phoenix, and J. Cherie Strachan (Editors). Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond (pp. 129–134). Washington, D.C.: American Political Science Association. [Open Access]

​

This chapter discusses ‘what is fieldwork’, navigating, planning, and conducting fieldwork. It engages theory and praxis to offer answers to questions that graduate students puzzle over about fieldwork.

​

​

(9) Zvobgo, Kelebogile. 2022. "Research Labs: Concept, Utility, and Application." In Huddleston, R. Joseph, Thomas Jamieson, and Patrick James (Editors). Handbook of Research Methods in International Relations (pp. 729–747). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. ​[Ungated]

​

Collaborative research in the social sciences has risen in recent decades. Scholars recognize that they can produce more high-volume, high-impact research when working in pairs and teams than when working alone. But how do scholars collaborate? Some identify colleagues with whom they share substantive research interests, suggest a partnership, and undertake a mutually-beneficial project. Yet collaboration can be, and for many is, so much more. At its most efficient, it is a system, not an ad hoc venture. Its benefits notwithstanding, collaboration as a system is not explicitly taught, particularly in social science disciplines like political science. What means and methods support collaboration, and how can one develop and sustain them? This chapter proposes the laboratory model of research from the natural sciences. This model has until fairly recently been underappreciated and underused to ground and structure political science research, including in International Relations, where labs hold especially great promise.

​

​

​