Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950 to 1984

Abstract

Human rights come in many forms. But most internationally recognized rights fall into one of three categories: (1) political rights and liberties, (2) rights to protect the integrity of a person, and (3) social and economic rights. Each warrants attention in its own right. I focus on the first category. In part, the importance of political rights and liberties follows because of their influence on other rights. For instance, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention, exile, and disappearances are examples of violations of personal integrity rights. These violations are most likely to occur when political rights and liberties are weak. The influence of political rights and liberties on social and economic rights is more ambiguous,' but when the former rights are strong there is the potential to bring about greater social and economic rights. Political rights and liberties also are relevant to contemporary world events. The return to more democratic political systems in Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and, perhaps, the Philippines are cases in point. So are the repressive regimes of South Africa, Afghanistan, and other countries which show declines in or low levels of these rights. Monitoring these political rights and liberties requires measures. Without them our assessment of rights must be based on rough impressions that prohibit comparisons between countries and analyses of the shifts within a country. With empirical indicators we can begin to track such differences.

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