Welcome! I am a political science doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Dallas. My research explores the conditions that can trigger or prevent political violence and state repression, how societies can overcome legacies of violence, and the role that institutions and social constructs can play in these processes. Among other methods, I employ Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods and develop computational tools to leverage large text data to answer my research questions. My recent political science research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science (2024), Political Analysis (2025) and has been conditionally accepted at Political Science Research and Methods, and recent computer science work has been published in the IEEE Access journal.
My human rights scholarship focuses broadly on the prevention of torture and inhuman and degrading behavior or punishment. I study domestic actors and international mechanisms seeking to improve compliance with international human rights law, and how they interact with governments that have ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT), its Optional Protocol (OPCAT), and the European Convention on Human Rights. My research further assesses the roles International Courts and the UN Treaty Bodies can play in promoting improved human rights compliance.
My conflict research focuses on conflict processes and political violence, specifically, which factors mobilize individuals to participate in political violence and how this violence affects communities in the aftermath. I further assess drivers of political violence and under which conditions governments increase their civilian victimization, or show restraint.
My dissertation focuses on three distinct dynamics within OPCAT ratifying countries. In my first paper, I assess the decision-making rationales of why countries create National Prevention Mechanisms (NPMs) in accordance with the OPCAT treaty provisions and how they determine their NPMs’ setup. In my second paper, I assess whether frequent NPM monitoring and reporting can improve human rights compliance in ratifying countries. My third paper examines how shifts in domestic priorities and administrative changes influence the operations of existing NPMs.
Before joining the political science PhD program at UT Dallas I held positions at the German Federal Foreign Ministry and in European Union funded project management. I subsequently taught European Law and English for Law Enforcement at Brandenburg State Police University in Germany, which sparked my interest in human rights standards and compliance in detention.
Get in touch: dagmar.heintze@utdallas.edu | Bluesky Social | Google Scholar | LinkedIn