Courtney Hillebrecht

Courtney Hillebrecht is the Professor of Political Science and Hitchcock Family Chair in Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She also serves as the Director of the Forsythe Family Program on Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

Professor Hillebrecht’s book, Domestic Politics and International Human Rights Tribunals: The Problem of Compliance uses a multi-method approach to examine the domestic processes of compliance with the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights, arguing that compliance with international tribunals takes place at the nexus of international and domestic politics. Her research also has been published in a variety of academic outlets, including, among others, Democratization, The European Journal of International Relations, Law and Society Review, and the Journal of Peace Research.  Professor Hillebrecht is co-PI on a National Science Foundation grant examining the domestic implementation processes of international human rights recommendations and rulings.  In addition, she is Associate Editor of International Studies Quarterly as part of the 2019-2023 editorial team and past chair of the International Studies Association Human Rights Section.

Research Areas: Repression, Funding and other External Influences on Mobilization


Select Publications:

International Criminal Accountability and the Domestic Politics of Resistance: Case Studies from Kenya and LebanonLaw and Society Review (2020) 54: 2, 453-486.

Overlapping International Human Rights Institutions:  Introducing the Women’s Rights Recommendations Digital Database (WR2D2) (with J. Haglund). Journal of Peace Research (2020): Online First.

“The Deterrent Effects of the International Criminal Court: Evidence from Libya.” 2016. International Interactions 42 (4): 616–43.

Domestic Politics and International Human Rights Tribunals: The Problem of Compliance. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

“The Domestic Mechanisms of Compliance with International Human Rights Law: Case Studies from the Inter-American Human Rights System.” 2012. Human Rights Quarterly 34 (4): 959–85.