Scholarship on human rights diplomacy (HRD)—efforts by government officials to engage publicly and privately with their foreign counterparts—often focuses on actions taken to “name and shame” target countries because private diplomatic activities are unobservable. To understand how HRD works in practice, we explore a campaign coordinated by the US government to free twenty female political prisoners. We compare release rates of the featured women to two comparable groups: a longer list of women considered by the State Department for the campaign; and other women imprisoned simultaneously in countries targeted by the campaign. Both approaches suggest that the campaign was highly effective. We consider two possible mechanisms through which expressive public HRD works: by imposing reputational costs and by mobilizing foreign actors. However, in-depth interviews with US officials and an analysis of media coverage find little evidence of these mechanisms. Instead, we argue that public pressure resolved deadlock within the foreign policy bureaucracy, enabling private diplomacy and specific inducements to secure the release of political prisoners. Entrepreneurial bureaucrats leveraged the spotlight on human rights abuses to overcome competing equities that prevent government-led coercive diplomacy on these issues. Our research highlights the importance of understanding the intersection of public and private diplomacy before drawing inferences about the effectiveness of HRD.

人权外交 (HRD) 奖学金——政府官员公开和私下与外国同行接触的努力——通常侧重于对目标国家“点名羞辱”的行动，因为私人外交活动是不可观察的。为了了解 HRD 在实践中的运作方式，我们探索了由美国政府协调的一项旨在释放 20 名女性政治犯的运动。我们将专题女性的释放率与两个可比较的群体进行比较：国务院考虑参加竞选活动的女性名单更长；和其他同时被监禁在该运动目标国家的妇女。这两种方法都表明该运动非常有效。我们考虑了表达性公共人力资源开发工作的两种可能机制：通过施加声誉成本和动员外国参与者。然而，对美国官员的深入采访和对媒体报道的分析几乎没有发现这些机制的证据。相反，我们认为公共压力解决了外交政策官僚机构内部的僵局，使私人外交和具体诱因能够确保政治犯获释。企业家官僚利用对侵犯人权行为的关注来克服阻碍政府在这些问题上采取强制外交的竞争性股票。我们的研究强调了在推断 HRD 的有效性之前了解公共和私人外交交叉点的重要性。启用私人外交和具体诱因以确保政治犯获释。企业家官僚利用对侵犯人权行为的关注来克服阻碍政府在这些问题上采取强制外交的竞争性股票。我们的研究强调了在推断 HRD 的有效性之前了解公共和私人外交交叉点的重要性。启用私人外交和具体诱因以确保政治犯获释。企业家官僚利用对侵犯人权行为的关注来克服阻碍政府在这些问题上采取强制外交的竞争性股票。我们的研究强调了在推断 HRD 的有效性之前了解公共和私人外交交叉点的重要性。