Rochelle Terman
Biographic Data
| ID | 304502 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rochelle Terman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rochelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Terman |
| SIGNATURE | TERMAN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1987-3613 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 119 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Language Barrier to Human Rights Information: A Global Analysis of Google Search Results
Research on international norms emphasizes the role of information, but often relies on a key premise that the messages produced by international actors reach intended audiences. Yet this assumption is rarely studied directly, leaving us with scant knowledge about what people actually learn when accessing information about norms like human rights. This paper reports descriptive findings from an audit of Google search for human rights queries acro…
The politics of international norms: A rhetorical approach
Response to David Keen’s Review of The Geopolitics of Pressure: When Human Rights Shaming Works—and When It Backfires
Transatlantic Shakedown: Presidential Shaming and Nato Burden Sharing
Does “shaming” work in NATO? More precisely, does publicly using negative language criticizing allies’ defense spending improve burden-sharing, or is it counterproductive, leading to lower spending? We evaluate the effectiveness of public shaming language; specifically, whether it increases allies’ defense spending or whether other considerations like external threat, domestic budgets, economic growth, or unemployment rates are better predictors …
Religious Freedom in the City Pool: Gender Segregation, Partisanship, and the Construction of Symbolic Boundaries
Low political support for religious minority groups in the United States is often explained as a matter of social distance or unfamiliarity between religious traditions. Observable differences between beliefs and behaviors of religious minority groups and the cultural mainstream are thought to demarcate group boundaries. However, little scholarship has examined why some practices become symbolic boundaries that reduce support for religious accomm…
Punishment and Politicization in the International Human Rights Regime
Conventional wisdom treats politicization in the international human rights regime as invariant: for any given violation, states condemn adversaries while coddling friends. However, we find that politicization patterns vary markedly across human rights issues. Some norms are more politicized than others, and states are more likely to punish geopolitical partners on certain violations. We offer a novel theory of politicized enforcement wherein sta…
A House Divided: Norm Fragmentation in the International Human Rights Regime
Although human rights are widely endorsed in the abstract, significant variation exists in the degree to which different states endorse different rights. To what extent is the international human rights community divided? This research note examines fragmentation in the international human rights regime using an inductive, data-driven approach. We trace states’ normative positions as they are expressed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN…
The positive side of negative identity: Stigma and deviance in backlash movements
Backlash movements often engage in extraordinary acts of deviance and taboo-breaking. Yet violating mainstream norms is costly, as it provokes public condemnation and stigma. Why do backlash movements transgress mainstream norms? In this essay, I argue that deviance and stigma are central elements of backlash politics and serve important functions for backlash movements. Building off insights from Sociology, I show how ‘secondary deviance’ is com…
The relational politics of shame: Evidence from the universal periodic review
Islamophobia and Media Portrayals of Muslim Women: A Computational Text Analysis of US News Coverage
This article examines portrayals of Muslim women in US news media. I test two hypotheses derived from theories of gendered orientalism. First, US news coverage of women abroad is driven by confirmation bias. Journalists are more likely to report on women living in Muslim and Middle Eastern countries if their rights are violated but report on women in other societies when their rights are respected. Second, stories about Muslim women emphasize the…
Islamophobia, Feminism and the Politics of Critique
This article discusses recent critical works within the frame of what is considered a paramount concern in feminist scholarship today: How do we name and publicize acts of violence against women without providing ideological fuel for orientalism and Islamophobia? By privileging a critique of western imperialism in discussions of violence against women in Muslim contexts, I argue this work: 1) obscures a complete understanding of violence against …
The Piety of Public Participation: The Revolutionary Muslim Woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The ‘woman question’ played a central role in the rhetoric and debates surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, yet the precise outcome of the woman question is still debated. While some scholars argue that the revolution has repressed women by forcing them into traditional roles, others argue that the revolution has liberated women by mobilising them in the public sphere. This article claims that the revolution tried to create a female subjec…
To Specify or Single Out: "Should We Use the Term "Honor Killing
The use of the term `honor killing' has elicited strong reactions from a variety of groups for years; but the recent Aqsa Parvez and Aasiya Hassan cases have brought a renewed interest from women's rights activists, community leaders, and law enforcement to study the term and come to a consensus on its validity and usefulness, particularly in the North American and European Diaspora. While some aver that the term `honor killing' is an appropriate…
Islamophobia and Media Portrayals of Muslim Women: A Computational Text Analysis of US News Coverage
This article examines portrayals of Muslim women in US news media. I test two hypotheses derived from theories of gendered orientalism. First, US news coverage of women abroad is driven by confirmation bias. Journalists are more likely to report on women living in Muslim and Middle Eastern countries if their rights are violated but report on women in other societies when their rights are respected. Second, stories about Muslim women emphasize the…
Punishment and Politicization in the International Human Rights Regime
Conventional wisdom treats politicization in the international human rights regime as invariant: for any given violation, states condemn adversaries while coddling friends. However, we find that politicization patterns vary markedly across human rights issues. Some norms are more politicized than others, and states are more likely to punish geopolitical partners on certain violations. We offer a novel theory of politicized enforcement wherein sta…
Islamophobia, Feminism and the Politics of Critique
This article discusses recent critical works within the frame of what is considered a paramount concern in feminist scholarship today: How do we name and publicize acts of violence against women without providing ideological fuel for orientalism and Islamophobia? By privileging a critique of western imperialism in discussions of violence against women in Muslim contexts, I argue this work: 1) obscures a complete understanding of violence against …
Transatlantic Shakedown: Presidential Shaming and Nato Burden Sharing
Does “shaming” work in NATO? More precisely, does publicly using negative language criticizing allies’ defense spending improve burden-sharing, or is it counterproductive, leading to lower spending? We evaluate the effectiveness of public shaming language; specifically, whether it increases allies’ defense spending or whether other considerations like external threat, domestic budgets, economic growth, or unemployment rates are better predictors …
A House Divided: Norm Fragmentation in the International Human Rights Regime
Although human rights are widely endorsed in the abstract, significant variation exists in the degree to which different states endorse different rights. To what extent is the international human rights community divided? This research note examines fragmentation in the international human rights regime using an inductive, data-driven approach. We trace states’ normative positions as they are expressed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN…
The positive side of negative identity: Stigma and deviance in backlash movements
Backlash movements often engage in extraordinary acts of deviance and taboo-breaking. Yet violating mainstream norms is costly, as it provokes public condemnation and stigma. Why do backlash movements transgress mainstream norms? In this essay, I argue that deviance and stigma are central elements of backlash politics and serve important functions for backlash movements. Building off insights from Sociology, I show how ‘secondary deviance’ is com…
To Specify or Single Out: "Should We Use the Term "Honor Killing
The use of the term `honor killing' has elicited strong reactions from a variety of groups for years; but the recent Aqsa Parvez and Aasiya Hassan cases have brought a renewed interest from women's rights activists, community leaders, and law enforcement to study the term and come to a consensus on its validity and usefulness, particularly in the North American and European Diaspora. While some aver that the term `honor killing' is an appropriate…
Religious Freedom in the City Pool: Gender Segregation, Partisanship, and the Construction of Symbolic Boundaries
Low political support for religious minority groups in the United States is often explained as a matter of social distance or unfamiliarity between religious traditions. Observable differences between beliefs and behaviors of religious minority groups and the cultural mainstream are thought to demarcate group boundaries. However, little scholarship has examined why some practices become symbolic boundaries that reduce support for religious accomm…
The Piety of Public Participation: The Revolutionary Muslim Woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The ‘woman question’ played a central role in the rhetoric and debates surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, yet the precise outcome of the woman question is still debated. While some scholars argue that the revolution has repressed women by forcing them into traditional roles, others argue that the revolution has liberated women by mobilising them in the public sphere. This article claims that the revolution tried to create a female subjec…
To Specify or Single Out: "Should We Use the Term "Honor Killing
The use of the term `honor killing' has elicited strong reactions from a variety of groups for years; but the recent Aqsa Parvez and Aasiya Hassan cases have brought a renewed interest from women's rights activists, community leaders, and law enforcement to study the term and come to a consensus on its validity and usefulness, particularly in the North American and European Diaspora. While some aver that the term `honor killing' is an appropriate…
Islamophobia, Feminism and the Politics of Critique
This article discusses recent critical works within the frame of what is considered a paramount concern in feminist scholarship today: How do we name and publicize acts of violence against women without providing ideological fuel for orientalism and Islamophobia? By privileging a critique of western imperialism in discussions of violence against women in Muslim contexts, I argue this work: 1) obscures a complete understanding of violence against …
Islamophobia and Media Portrayals of Muslim Women: A Computational Text Analysis of US News Coverage
This article examines portrayals of Muslim women in US news media. I test two hypotheses derived from theories of gendered orientalism. First, US news coverage of women abroad is driven by confirmation bias. Journalists are more likely to report on women living in Muslim and Middle Eastern countries if their rights are violated but report on women in other societies when their rights are respected. Second, stories about Muslim women emphasize the…
The relational politics of shame: Evidence from the universal periodic review
The positive side of negative identity: Stigma and deviance in backlash movements
Backlash movements often engage in extraordinary acts of deviance and taboo-breaking. Yet violating mainstream norms is costly, as it provokes public condemnation and stigma. Why do backlash movements transgress mainstream norms? In this essay, I argue that deviance and stigma are central elements of backlash politics and serve important functions for backlash movements. Building off insights from Sociology, I show how ‘secondary deviance’ is com…
A House Divided: Norm Fragmentation in the International Human Rights Regime
Although human rights are widely endorsed in the abstract, significant variation exists in the degree to which different states endorse different rights. To what extent is the international human rights community divided? This research note examines fragmentation in the international human rights regime using an inductive, data-driven approach. We trace states’ normative positions as they are expressed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN…
Religious Freedom in the City Pool: Gender Segregation, Partisanship, and the Construction of Symbolic Boundaries
Low political support for religious minority groups in the United States is often explained as a matter of social distance or unfamiliarity between religious traditions. Observable differences between beliefs and behaviors of religious minority groups and the cultural mainstream are thought to demarcate group boundaries. However, little scholarship has examined why some practices become symbolic boundaries that reduce support for religious accomm…
Punishment and Politicization in the International Human Rights Regime
Conventional wisdom treats politicization in the international human rights regime as invariant: for any given violation, states condemn adversaries while coddling friends. However, we find that politicization patterns vary markedly across human rights issues. Some norms are more politicized than others, and states are more likely to punish geopolitical partners on certain violations. We offer a novel theory of politicized enforcement wherein sta…
Transatlantic Shakedown: Presidential Shaming and Nato Burden Sharing
Does “shaming” work in NATO? More precisely, does publicly using negative language criticizing allies’ defense spending improve burden-sharing, or is it counterproductive, leading to lower spending? We evaluate the effectiveness of public shaming language; specifically, whether it increases allies’ defense spending or whether other considerations like external threat, domestic budgets, economic growth, or unemployment rates are better predictors …
Response to David Keen’s Review of The Geopolitics of Pressure: When Human Rights Shaming Works—and When It Backfires
The Language Barrier to Human Rights Information: A Global Analysis of Google Search Results
Research on international norms emphasizes the role of information, but often relies on a key premise that the messages produced by international actors reach intended audiences. Yet this assumption is rarely studied directly, leaving us with scant knowledge about what people actually learn when accessing information about norms like human rights. This paper reports descriptive findings from an audit of Google search for human rights queries acro…
The politics of international norms: A rhetorical approach
Law (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Human rights (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Law and economics (4 works)