1 The Path of the Boomerang: Human Rights Campaigns, Third-party Pressure, and Human Rights 1 Michelle Giacobbe Allendoerfer, George Washington University Amanda Murdie, University of Georgia Ryan M. Welch, University of Tampa Accepted at International Studies Quarterly Abstract (195 words): How can information campaigns of non-governmental human rights organizations (HROs) to “name and shame” human rights violators improve human rights conditions? Is the effect direct -- does HRO targeting induce violating states to change their behavior? Or is the effect indirect -- does pressure by third-parties mediate the relationship between HRO actions and changes in human rights practices? The boomerang and spiral models suggest HRO activity provokes third-parties, such as other states and international organizations, to pressure violating states. This pressure, in turn, drives violating states to improve human rights conditions. On the other hand, recent empirical work finds third-party pressure can further degrade human rights conditions. We provide a comprehensive analysis of how these individual factors – HRO activities and pressure from third parties - work together in the larger chain of causal events influencing human rights conditions. Using a causal mediation model, we examine whether HRO campaigning improves human rights directly or if the effect is mediated by costs imposed by powerful actors through sanctions and military interventions. We find that, although HRO activities have an overall positive effect on human rights conditions, the negative effects of third-party pressure somewhat diminish the positive effects. 1 Amanda Murdie acknowledges that her work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation (NRF-2016S1A3A2925085). Ryan M. Welch also received support from the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. The authors thank the editors and reviewers at the International Studies Quarterly for very helpful comments and suggestions. We also acknowledge the useful feedback of participants at the 2015 International Studies Association Annual Convention in New Orleans and the 2018 Midwest Political Science Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago where early drafts of this paper were presented.