Poking around Fariss' (2014) LHR data.

1-gawk-at-fariss-lhr-data.R

library(tidyverse)
library(lubridate) # just in case I need to manipulate a date
library(stringr) # just in case I need to manipulated a string
library(stevemisc) # for my personal theme
library(scales) # just in case I need to fudge a y-axis to be a scale
library(knitr) # just in case I need a markdown table

# I'm going to assume you have Fariss' data downloaded somewhere. Here's what mine looks like.
LHR <- read_csv("~/Dropbox/data/latent-human-rights/HumanRightsProtectionScores_v2.04.csv")

LHR %>%
  filter(COW == 2 | COW == 710) %>%
  mutate(Country = ifelse(COW == 2, "United States", "China"),
         lwr = NA) %>%
  ggplot(.,aes(YEAR, latentmean, group = Country, color=Country,
               ymin = latentmean - 1.96*latentsd, ymax = latentmean + 1.96*latentsd)) + 
  theme_steve() + theme(legend.position="bottom") +
  geom_ribbon(aes(fill = Country), alpha = I(0.2), color = "black") + geom_line() +
  ylab("Mean Latent Human Rights Protection") + xlab("Year") +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = seq(1950, 2015, by = 5)) +
  labs(title = "Human Rights Protection Scores for the U.S. and China, 1949-2013",
       subtitle = "We oberve a clear contrast between the two starting in 1965 but observe the United States' downward trend.",
       caption = "Data: Fariss' Latent Human Rights Protection Scores (v. 2.04)")

LHR %>%
  filter(COW == 2 |  COW == 20 | COW == 70) %>%
  mutate(Country = ifelse(COW == 2, "United States", NA),
         Country = ifelse(COW == 20, "Canada", Country),
         Country = ifelse(COW == 70, "Mexico", Country),
         lwr = NA) %>%
  ggplot(.,aes(YEAR, latentmean, group = Country, color=Country,
               ymin = latentmean - 1.96*latentsd, ymax = latentmean + 1.96*latentsd)) + 
  theme_steve() + theme(legend.position="bottom") +
  geom_ribbon(aes(fill = Country), alpha = I(0.2), color = "black") + geom_line() +
  ylab("Mean Latent Human Rights Protection") + xlab("Year") +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = seq(1950, 2015, by = 5)) +
  labs(title = "Human Rights Protection Scores for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, 1949-2013",
       subtitle = "Notice the U.S. is not exactly a world leader in human rights protections despite demonstrations to the contrary.",
       caption = "Data: Fariss' Latent Human Rights Protection Scores (v. 2.04)")