Taking Root: Human Rights and Public Opinion in the Global South

HIn Taking Root: Human Rights and Public Opinion in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2017), James Ron, Shannon Golden, David Crow, and Archana Pandya challenge conventional wisdom about human rights advocacy. The book draws on a unique series of nationally representative surveys conducted in Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, India, and Nigeria between 2011 and 2013—capturing the views of nearly 6,000 respondents in urban and rural settings. The central finding: human rights principles enjoy far more popular legitimacy in the Global South than elites often assume. Across diverse contexts, majorities of ordinary people expressed support for the idea that governments should respect human rights. At the same time, respondents were cautious about human rights NGOs, often perceiving them as elite-driven, internationally funded, and disconnected from local needs. This book breaks new ground by empirically examining the “demand side” of human rights—the beliefs and attitudes of citizens, rather than just the strategies of NGOs or the policies of states. Its insights are essential for understanding how rights movements can build legitimacy and local support in societies marked by poverty, inequality, and political violence. The project has taken on new resonance in light of recent debates over the foreign funding of NGOs and the fragility of human rights support in polarized environments. For example, James Ron’s more recent essay, “A Human Rights Funding Tragedy Foretold”, builds directly on Taking Root’s insights, showing how overreliance on external donors has left many Global South NGOs politically vulnerable.