The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is thought to have shaped constitutions profoundly since its adoption in 1948. The authors identify two empirical implications that should follow from such influence. First, UDHR content should be reflected in subsequent national constitutions. Second, such reflections should bear the particular marks of the UDHR itself, not those of the postwar zeitgeist more broadly. The authors examine the historical evidence at various levels to identify and untangle the UDHR's impact. In a macro analysis, they leverage an original data set on the content of constitutions since 1789. They explore historical patterns in the creation and spread of rights, and test whether 1948 exhibits a noticeable disruption in rights provision. The authors build a multivariate model that predicts rights provision with constitution- and rights-level covariates. To gain further analytic leverage, they unearth the process that produced the UDHR and identify plausible alternative formulations evident in a set of discarded proposals. The authors further test the plausibility of UDHR influence by searching for direct references to the document in subsequent constitutional texts and constitutional proceedings. The evidence suggests that the UDHR significantly accelerated the adoption of a particular set of constitutional rights.

自 1948 年通过以来，《世界人权宣言》（UDHR）被认为对宪法产生了深远的影响。作者确定了这种影响应遵循的两个经验意义。首先，《世界人权宣言》的内容应反映在随后的国家宪法中。其次，这种反思应该带有《世界人权宣言》本身的特殊标记，而不是更广泛的战后时代精神的标记。作者检查了各个层面的历史证据，以确定和解开《世界人权宣言》的影响。在宏观分析中，他们利用了关于自 1789 年以来宪法内容的原始数据集。他们探索了权利创造和传播的历史模式，并测试了 1948 年的权利规定是否存在明显的中断。作者建立了一个多元模型，该模型通过宪法和权利级别的协变量来预测权利规定。为了获得进一步的分析影响力，他们挖掘了产生 UDHR 的过程，并在一组被丢弃的提案中确定了明显的合理替代方案。作者通过在随后的宪法文本和宪法程序中寻找对该文件的直接引用，进一步检验了《世界人权宣言》影响的合理性。证据表明，《世界人权宣言》显着加速了特定宪法权利的通过。作者通过在随后的宪法文本和宪法程序中寻找对该文件的直接引用，进一步检验了《世界人权宣言》影响的合理性。证据表明，《世界人权宣言》显着加速了特定宪法权利的通过。作者通过在随后的宪法文本和宪法程序中寻找对该文件的直接引用，进一步检验了《世界人权宣言》影响的合理性。证据表明，《世界人权宣言》显着加速了特定宪法权利的通过。