Publications [#289006] of David L. Banks
Papers Published
- Banks, DL. "Patterns of Oppression: An Exploratory Analysis of Human Rights Data." Journal of the American Statistical Association 84.407 (1989): 674-681. [doi]
(last updated on 2026/01/16)Abstract:
This article reports an exploratory analysis of human-rights data compiled for 74 countries during 1982–1983. The information is combined with social, demographic, and economic indexes, then subjected to the scrutiny of CART, nearest-neighbor clustering, and other classification and clustering algorithms. Human-rights data separate most nations into one of seven categories; these categories can also be accurately predicted from widely available social and economic indexes. The results suggest that one need monitor only a small number of human-rights indexes to capture most of the original information, thus reducing the cost and complexity of human-rights assessment. Also, the analysis discovers socioeconomic indexes associated with certain patterns of human-rights violation, and this may enable a better understanding of climates that foster compliance with the International Bill of Rights. © 1989 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.