Welfare-Based Human Rights Diffusion in Global Social Policy: Examining an Extended Spiral Model to Survey Welfare Norms

Author(s)

Kendra L. Duran, Liberty UniversityFollow

Date

4-26-2024

Department

Helms School of Government

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy (PhD)

Chair

Rebecca Munson

Keywords

global social policy, welfare-based human rights, economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR), human rights norm diffusion, welfare norms, Guatemala, Kenya, spiral model, development, Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), SURF Index

Disciplines

International and Area Studies | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Recommended Citation

Duran, Kendra L., "Welfare-Based Human Rights Diffusion in Global Social Policy: Examining an Extended Spiral Model to Survey Welfare Norms" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5453.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5453

Abstract

This study addresses a gap in research concerning welfare-based human rights diffusion, rights that are also referred to as Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR). This project finds that when states ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), global social policies are created, grow worldwide, and receive greater attention from advocacy organizations. Even so, it is not understood how global social policies affect a state’s compliance with its ICESCR commitment, nor how global social policies affect welfare-based human rights diffusion. Seeking to address this gap in theory and praxis, this research utilizes an extended case study methodology on the countries of Guatemala and Kenya from their respective colonial times to present day. It casts the Spiral Model of norm diffusion for welfare-based human rights diffusion research by asking: What explains compliance with welfare-based human rights international standards? This question is studied by drawing upon welfare regime theory and its relational components, global social policymaking, and human rights practice, forming a multidisciplinary conceptual framework. Effectively harnessing ethnographic methods through storywork alongside detailed analysis produces causal findings. Through in-person and virtual fieldwork and survey acquisition, variables are identified that correlate to ESCR diffusion specifically, and an extended spiral model is proposed, finding a high level of explanatory power alongside the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI). The Extended Model is then tested quantitatively, confirming its explanatory power. This research will interest those navigating human rights, development, and global social policy.