International Associations at the Nexus of Globalization, Religion, and Human Rights

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Religion and human rights are often analyzed in the contexts of globalization, but the nexus in which they intersect is rarely investigated. By utilizing data on international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), I examine the religious and secular characteristics of INGOs from 1800 to 1995, the global conditions in which human rights organizations appear from 1839 through 1994, and the characteristics of how religious freedom advocates do their work. Global civil society undergoes a significant shift in the latter half of the 19th century, from a predominantly religious population of organizations to a predominantly secular population of organizations in the space of 50 years. Global human rights organizing is conditioned by the wider global civil society and global legal framework in which it is situated, and responds also to the global economy, war, and global levels of democracy. Religious freedom advocacy takes heterogeneous forms and simultaneously universalizes and particularizes in its efforts to secure liberty of conscience.