📌 Central Question

Can human rights organizations shame governments without fueling racism against diasporas or appearing racist? This research tests whether shaming reduces public support for targeted countries, whether it increases antisemitism or anti-Asian sentiment, and whether governments can recover support by accusing critics of racism.

📊 What Was Tested

• Two U.S.-based survey experiments with a combined sample of 6,739 respondents.
• Experimental treatments targeted shaming of two countries: Israel and China.
• Additional manipulation tested whether including an explicit anti-racist cue (denouncing racism) changed perceptions of the shaming.
• Eleven interviews with prominent human rights organizations complemented the experiments.

📌 Key Findings

• Shaming reduces public support for the shamed countries (Israel and China) but does not increase racism toward diasporas: no detectable rise in antisemitism or anti-Asian sentiment.
• The primary dilemma for shamers is not preventing a rise in racist attitudes but avoiding the appearance of racism; shaming can be perceived as racist even when it does not fuel prejudiced views.
• Adding an explicit anti-racist cue that denounces racism makes shaming appear less racist to respondents.
• Shamed governments can use racial countershaming to reclaim some of the public support lost to shaming, but such countershaming does not fully restore the lost support.

🔎 How the Evidence Was Gathered

• Large-N survey experiments in the U.S. (n=6,739) measured changes in support for targeted countries, perceptions of the shamer's racism, and indicators of antisemitism and anti-Asianism.
• Eleven interviews with leaders from prominent human rights organizations provided qualitative context on real-world shaming strategies and concerns about racial backlash.

💡 Why It Matters

• Advances understanding of international human rights shaming by showing it can be effective without necessarily increasing racist attitudes toward diasporas.
• Identifies a practical mitigation: explicit anti-racist framing reduces perceptions that shaming is racist.
• Documents that shamed governments can partially blunt shaming through racialized counterclaims, informing both HRO strategy and the study of reputational politics.
• Offers actionable guidance for racially responsible shaming practices in international advocacy.