Bureaucracy politicization and its effects on human rights A large-N analysis and the case of El Salvador

Abstract

Bureaucracy represents the infrastructural power of a State, and by studying its configuration one can determine how effective the government can be on carrying on with its goals and promises. In this research, I explore if a bureaucracy controlled by politicians, and not by a professionalized civil service, is less conducive to better protection and fulfillment of human rights. I test a hypothesis that proposes that the higher the levels of politicization of bureaucracy, the higher the violations of human rights. To test this hypothesis a mix-method analysis was selected. First I run a Large-N Analysis of 100+ countries using OLS regression models of cross-sectional data to measure the strength of this focal relationship. I found it to be significant: Bureaucracy politization affects negatively human rights outcomes, even in democratic countries with high GDP per capita. I then conducted a case-study analysis on El Salvador, a developing country that appears to be very well explained by the linear regression models. Using interviews with country experts, academic research, and official statistics I was able to identify key causal mechanisms undermining the state capacity to better protect and fulfill human rights.