Susan Dicklitch-NelsonProfessor of Government

Dr. Dicklitch-Nelson is a Professor of Government. Her research focuses on human rights, specifically Global  LGBTI human rights, civil society and democracy. She has a regional expertise in  Sub-Saharan Africa, having conducted field research in Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, and South Africa. Dr. Dicklitch-Nelson has published widely on human rights, civil society  and democracy, including a book called The Elusive Promise of Non-governmental Organizations in Africa: Lessons from Uganda (Palgrave/McMillan).

Dr. Dicklitch-Nelson's is the founder and Principal Investigator (PI) of the F&M Global Barometers which include the F&M Global Barometer of Gay RightsTM (F&M GBGR) and the F&M Global Barometer of  Transgender RightsTM (F&M GBTR).  The F&M Global Barometers are part of the LGBTI Global Human Rights Initiative. She has also launched the LGBTQI Perception Index: the first ever global survey that seeks to shed light on the lived human rights realities of  LGBTQI individuals in 204 countries. The LGBTQI Perception Index will complement the LGBTQI Human Rights Report Cards that were prepared for the White House Summit for Democracy.

A strong advocate of human rights and civic engagement, Dr. Dicklitch-Nelson has served as an expert witness on human rights in Cameroon and Uganda, and on LGBTQI human rights in over 100  asylum cases in Immigration Court in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She served as Associate Dean of the College and Director of the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement from 2008-2015.

She teaches courses in  African politics, Global LGBTQI human rights, human rights and asylum law. In Spring 2011, the U.S. News & World Report listed her Human Rights-Human Wrongs class as one of 10 classes that impact the outside world. Dr. Dicklitch-Nelson has developed high-impact experiential learning opportunities for students in Ghana, South Africa, Honduras, and Ecuador.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, Political Science

University of Toronto, 1995 

MASTER OF ARTS, Political Science

University of Toronto, 1990 

BACHELOR OF ARTS (Honors) summa cum laude, Political Science and Geography

McMaster University, 1989

LGBTI Human Rights

Human Rights, Democracy and Civil Society

Political Asylum

Community-based Learning

Africa (Cameroon, Uganda, South Africa)

Books: 

Dicklitch, Susan (1998) The Elusive Promise of NGOs in Africa: Lessons from Uganda (International Political Economy Series). New York: MacMillan and St. Martin's Press.

Publications:

Hildebrandt, Achim, Indira Rahman, Susan Dicklitch-Nelson and Berwood Yost. (2025) "Barriers to the global LGBT progress (and how they may be crossed)", Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 4, November, pp. 633-666.

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Harini Narayan (2025) "A Growing Backlash: Quatifying the Experiences of LGBTQI+ People, 2022-2024", F&M Global Barometers, Available at: https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/research-at-a-glance/ 

Gilliam, Jay and Susan Dicklitch-Nelson (2025) "Elusive safety: what new global date reveals about gender, violence, and erasure", Washington Blade, 25 November, https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/11/25/elusive-safety-what-new-global-data-reveals-about-gender-violence-and-erasure/ 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan (2023) "Erasing LGBT People is a Crime Against Humanity", Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 2 June 2022 https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/pride-month-2023-erasing-lgbtqi-people-is-a-crime-against-humanity-opinion/

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan and Mark Bromley (2023) “A Shadow over Democracy”, The Hill,  March 28, https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3922789-a-shadow-over-democracy/

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Stefanie Kasparek, & Erin Hallenbeck. (2023). Measuring the Impact of LGBT Advocacy on LGBT Protections: 2011-2020, A Report prepared for the Arcus Foundation.

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Erin Maxwell, Erin Hallenbeck, Stefanie Kasparek. (2023). Global LGBT Human Rights, 2011-2020: A Decade of Progress? F&M Global Barometers Annual Report, available at: https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/annual-reports (91 pages)

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Stefanie Kasparek, Erin Maxwell & Erin Hallenbeck. (2023). The F&M Global Barometers Methodology: Quantifying LGBT+ Human Rights Protections Worldwide, F&M Global Barometers Background Note 1.

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Stefanie Kasparek, Erin Maxwell, Erin Hallenbeck, Amy Moreno, & Juliana Stoll (2023). F&M Global Barometers LGBTQI+ Perception Index (GBPI): A Report Prepared for Grindr 4 Equality, (July).

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Stefanie Kasparek, Erin Maxwell, Erin Hallenbeck, & Amy Moreno. (2023). Comparing Legislative Protections and Lived Human Rights Realities in 68 Countries, A Report Prepared for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Working Paper Series No. 2, F&M Global Barometers.

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Stefanie Kasparek, Erin Maxwell, Erin Hallenbeck, & Amy Moreno (2023). Democracy, Corruption and Global Freedom: Comparing LGBTQI+ Legislation with Lived Human Rights Reality, Working Paper Series No. 1, F&M Global Barometers. 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan and Indira Rahman (2022) "Transgender Rights are Human Rights: A Cross-National Comparison of Transgender Rights in 204 Countries", Journal of Human Rights, https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2022.2100985

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Indira Rahman, and Scottie Thompson Buckland. (2022) F&M Global Barometers Annual Report: LGBT Human Rights in 204 Countries and Regions, 2019. Lancaster, PA: Franklin & Marshall College, available at: https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Indira Rahman, Scottie Thompson Buckland, Berwood Yost and Cuong Nguyen (2021) F&M Global Barometers: LGBT Human Rights in 203 Countries and Regions, 2011-2018. Lancaster, PA: Franklin & Marshall College, Available at: https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/annual-reports/ 

Crehan, Phil, Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, Kerry-Jo Ford Lyn, Jay Gilliam, Sharita Gruberg, Ryan Kaminski, Chloe Schwenke, Ryan Thoreson (2020) Transforming U.S. Foreign Policy to Ensure Dignity and Rights for LGBTI People, Center for American Progress, Available at:  https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/reports/2020/11/16/492936/transforming-u-s-foreign-policy-ensure-dignity-rights-lgbti-people/   DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36043.41762 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan (2020) “Are LGBT Human Rights in Uganda a Lost Cause?”, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Available at: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2020/02/27/are-lgbtq-human-rights-in-uganda-a-lost-cause/

“A Comparative Analysis of LGBT Human Rights in 197 Countries: 2011-2017”, Franklin & Marshall College Global Barometer of Gay Rights Working Paper, Available at: https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/ 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Indira Rahman (2019) "Joint Responsibility: LGBT Rights in a Polarized World", The Globe Post, 18 April 2019. Available at: https://theglobepost.com/2019/04/18/lgbt-rights/ 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, Scottie Thompson, Danel Draguljic and Berwood Yost (2019)  "From Persecutors to Protectors: Human Rights and the F&M Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR)", (Forthcoming)   Journal of Human Rights. DOI: 10.1080/14754835.2018.1563863, Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14754835.2018.1563863.  

Dicklitch, Susan, Berwood Yost and Scottie Thompson (2017) "Most countries score an F on our LGBT human rights report card", The Conversation, June 8, 2017 (reprinted by the Associated Press in the  Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times).

Dicklitch, Susan and Amara M. Riley (2017) "Empowering Students to Make a Difference Now", in Margaret A. Miller (editor) College Teaching and Learning for Change. New York: Routledge, pp. 180-185.

Dicklitch, Susan and Amara M. Riley (2015) "Empowering Students to Make a Difference Now", Change Magazine of Higher Education (July/August).

Dicklitch, Susan, (2013) “Service-Learning: Blending Cognitive, Affective and Effective Learning: The Case of Human Rights-Human Wrongs”, in Ailson Rios Millett McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion, and  Dick Simpson (eds), From Service-Learning to Civic and Political Engagement (American Political Science Association)

Dicklitch, Susan, Kelly A. Reese and Alice Yoder (2012) "A Collaborative Community Approach to Refugee Health: The Exemplary Model of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania", The Journal of Lancaster General Hospital, (Winter), Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 120-124. 

Dicklitch, Susan, Berwood Yost, and Bryan Dougan,  (2012) “Uganda and the Persecution of Homosexuals: Introducing the Barometer of Gay Rights (BGR)”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 2, (May), pp. 448-471.

Dicklitch, Susan (2011) “The Southern Cameroons and Minority Rights in Cameroon”, Journal of Contemporary African Studies (January 2011)

Dicklitch, Susan and Aditi Malik (2010) “Justice, Human Rights and Reconciliation in Post-Conflict Cambodia”, Human Rights Review, Volume 11, Issue 4, p.515

Dicklitch, Susan (2009) “Uganda: From Idi Amin to Museveni”, in David P. Forsythe (ed), Encyclopedia of Human Rights, (New York: Oxford University Press)

Dicklitch, Susan (2009) “Idi Amin”, in David P. Forsythe (ed), Encyclopedia of Human Rights, (New York: Oxford University Press)

Dicklitch, Susan and Rhoda Howard-Hassmann (2007) “Public Policy and Economic Rights in Ghana and Uganda”, in Shareen Hertel & Lanse Minkler, editors, Economic Rights: Conceptual, Measurement and Policy Issues, (Cambridge University Press)

Dicklitch, Susan (2006) “Why I left my Home and Native Land”, The Hamilton Spectator July 17 (op-ed article)

Dicklitch, Susan (2005) "Human Rights-Human Wrongs: Making Political Science Real Through Service-Learning", in Dan W. Butin (ed). Service-Learning in Higher Education (New York and London: Palgrave), pp. 127-138.

Dicklitch, Susan (2005) "Uganda", in Neal Tate (ed) Governments of the World (New York: MacMillan Reference USA).

Dicklitch, Susan and Heather Rice (2004), “The Mennonite Central Committee and Faith-Based NGO Aid to Africa”, Development in Practice, Vol. 14, No. 5, August, pp. 660-672

Dicklitch, Susan (2004) “African Corruption is a Crime Against Humanity”, Christian Science Monitor, 9 August 2004.

Dicklitch, Susan (2004) Book review of The Origins of Indigenism: Human Rights and the Politics of Identity, Americas, Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 146-148.

Dicklitch, Susan and Doreen Lwanga  (2003) “The Politics of Being Non-Political: Human Rights Organizations and the Creation of a Positive Human Rights Culture in Uganda”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 482-509

Dicklitch, Susan (2003) “Real Service = Real Learning: Making Political Science Relevant Through Service-Learning”, PS: Political Science and Politics, October 2003, pp. 773-776

Dicklitch, Susan (2003) “Two college students fight for Obi’s freedom”, Christian Science Monitor, 30 December 2003.

Dicklitch, Susan (2002) "A Basic Human Rights Approach to Democracy in Uganda”, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 203-222

Dicklitch, Susan (2002), “Failed Democratic Transition in Cameroon: A Human Rights Explanation”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1, (February), pp. 152-176

Dicklitch, Susan (2002) “NGOs and Democratization in Transitional Societies: Lessons From Uganda”, in Daniel N. Nelson and Laura Neack (eds), Global Society in Transition: An International Politics Reader (New York & The Hague: Kluwer).]

Dicklitch, Susan (2001)  “NGOs and Democratization in Transitional Societies: Lessons From Uganda”, International Politics, Vol. 38, No. 1, (March 2001)

Dicklitch, Susan (2001) "Action for Development: Promoting Women & A Rights Protective Society in Uganda", in Claude E. Welch, (ed). NGOs & Human Rights: Promise & Performance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania), pp.182-203

Dicklitch, Susan (2001) Book review of Mahmood Mamdani (ed) Beyond Rights Talk and Culture Talk: Comparative Essays on the Politics of Rights and Culture, in Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 35, Part 3, pp. 618-619.

Dicklitch, Susan (2000) "The Incomplete Democratic Transition in Uganda", in Bensabat-Kleinberg, Remonda and Janine Clark (eds). Economic Liberalization, Democratization and Civil Society in the Developing World. (International Political Economy Series). New York:  MacMillan and St. Martin's Press.

Dicklitch, Susan (2000) Book review of Senyo B-S Adjibolosoo, Economics and Development: Rethinking Development Theory and Policy: A Human Factor Critique, in  African Studies Review, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 145.

Dicklitch, Susan (1999) Book review of Alison Van Rooy (ed) Civil Society and the Aid Industry, in Canadian Journal of African Studies, vol. 33, Part 1, pp. 204.

Dicklitch, Susan (1998) "Indigenous NGOs and Political Participation in Uganda Under the NRM Regime: 1986-1994", in Holger Bernt Hansen and Michael Twaddle (eds). Developing Uganda. Ohio: James Currey Press.

Dicklitch, Susan (1997), Book review of Kampala Women Getting By: Wellbeing in the time of AIDS by Sandra Wallman (London, James Currey), in The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 745-778.

Dicklitch, Susan (1997) Book review of Beckett, Young, Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria, in The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 608-609.

Dicklitch, Susan (1995-96) "Uganda: A Microcosm of Crisis and Hope in Africa", Special Issue:  "Africa's Prospects", International Journal (Canadian Institute of International Affairs), LI, 1, Winter: 103-125

Dicklich, Susan (1993) “Violence Against Women: The Need for a Special Focus”, Arise Magazine, January-June, Kampala Uganda, pp. 10-11, 15. 

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan, P. Lidstad, M. Mancini, H. Naryan, & A. Moreno (2025). "Snapshot Series: LGBT+ Rights in Francophone Countries." Reports and Resouces, Research Briefs, F&M Global Barometers, September 2025, Available at: www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Snapshot-Series-Francophone-Countries.pdf  

Neupane, Sittal, S. Martinez, L. Dik, S. Dicklitch-Nelson, E. Hallenback and A. Moreno (2025). "Snapshot Series: Sub-Saharan Africa." Reports & Recources, Reserach Briefs. F&M Global Barometers. October 2025. www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Snapshot-Series-Sub-Saharan-Africa.pdf

Martinez, Stehanie, A. Moreno, S. Dicklitch-Nelson, E. Hallenbeck, and L. Dik. "Snapshot Series: The Andean Region," Reports and Resources, Research Briefs, F&M Global Barometers. August 2025. 
https://www.fandmglobalbarometers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Snapshot-Series-The-Andean-Region.pdf

Dicklitch-Nelson, Susan and Indira Rahman (2019) “Joint Responsibility: LGBT Rights in a Polarized World”, The Globe Post, (April 18), available at: httpshttps://theglobepost.com/2019/04/18/lgbt-rights/://theglobepost.com/2019/04/18/lgbt-rights/

 Dicklitch, Susan, Berwood Yost, and Bryan Dougan, (May 2012) “Uganda and the Persecution of Homosexuals: Introducing the Barometer of Gay Rights (BGR)”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 2, (May), pp. 448-471

Dicklitch, Susan and Aditi Malik (2010) “Justice, Human Rights and Reconciliation in Post-Conflict Cambodia”, Human Rights Review, Volume 11, Issue 4.

Dicklitch, Susan and Heather Rice (2004), “The Mennonite Central Committee and Faith-Based NGO Aid to Africa”, Development in Practice, Vol. 14, No. 5, August, pp. 660-672

GOV425: Human Rights/Human Wrongs

This course is structured as a senior seminar, community-based learning course.  It focuses on human rights and human wrongs in general, emphasizing political asylum in the United States.  The major component of the course, aside from the weekly seminar readings and discussions, centers on the political asylum project.  Students work on a political asylum case in the context of a community partnership.  Students work in teams of two and compile evidence, testimony, and detainee affidavits that are used in an immigration court of law for the political asylum detainee's case.  Students have direct hands-on experience working with asylum seekers. Students present and evaluate individual cases in a mock trial.  .

GOV372: Global LGBTQ+ Human Rights

LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) individuals are some the most vulnerable minorities on the planet. Their mere existence often challenges cultural norms, traditions and power structures. They have been treated as social pariahs and scapegoats for the economic, political, and social ills in their countries.

This course will examine the history of the “gay rights” movement, how LGBTQI+ people are treated worldwide, what are human rights and why LGBTQI+ people should have the same access to those rights, some theories as to why LGBTQI+ people are persecuted and what needs to happen to secure LGBTQI+ equality.

This course offers students a unique opportunity to work on policy-relevant research funded by the LGBTI Global Human Rights Initiative. Students will have unique access to the F&M Global Barometers database which tracks the human rights protections of LGBT individuals in 204 countries from 2011-2019. The F&M Global Barometers which are comprised of the F&M Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR) and the F&M Global Barometer of Transgender Rights (GBTR) assign each country a letter grade on the familiar A-F scale. This grading system uses 27 items in five categories for the GBGR and 17 items and five categories for the GBTR that go beyond constitutional protections. Countries are classified as protecting, tolerant, resistant, intolerant or persecuting based on their score. The newest addition to the F&M Global Barometers is the Global Barometers LGBTQI+ Perception Index (GBPI). Students will have the unique opportunity to access the over 167,000 survey entries that we received on the GBPI.

GOV326: African Politics

Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone profound economic, social and political change in the last four decades.  In the 1990s, new hope was placed in the adoption of multiparty democracy in many African countries.  This course analyzes the social, political and economic evolution of "development" and "democracy" in Africa.

GOV222: Open Doors, Closed Borders

Should countries have borders? Who gets to immigrate to the United States? What is the difference between migration, legal immigration, and asylum? The Statue of Liberty famously beckons the “poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free…the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” but how do we determine who actually “belongs” and who does not? These and other issues will be addressed in this 200-level course.

This community-based learning course undertakes a broad and interdisciplinary examination of the concept and practice of citizenship. We begin by exploring the historical development of citizenship in the United States. What does it mean to be a “good” citizen, an “engaged” citizen, a “second class” citizen? What rights, responsibilities and obligations do citizens have? Does this vary according to nation? What happens to individuals when they lose their citizenship, are born stateless, or are undocumented migrants?

We examine the philosophical bases of civil rights and civic obligations in our liberal democracy and explore some current issues surrounding citizenship in both a national and a global context. Students will work with resettled refugees in Lancaster County. The community based-learning component of this class will introduce students to the challenges of losing citizenship in another country and
being resettled here in the United States.

GOV101: Power and Politics

This course will introduce students to the themes, concepts, theories and case-studies that relate to the study of political science and governments worldwide. We will focus on key concepts such as power, sovereignty, authority, legitimacy, democracy, democratization, states, nationalism, authoritarianism, revolutions, and globalization. Students can use these and other similar concepts to examine
features and events relating to various countries and settings.

The second half of the course will focus specifically on a Reacting to the Past (RTTP) simulation on South Africa called: “The Collapse of Apartheid and the Dawn of Democracy in South Africa”: The Multiparty Negotiating Process, April 1993”. The RTTP simulation situates students in the Multiparty Negotiating Process that took place at the World Trade Center in Kempton Park, South Africa, in 1993. The object of the talks, and the object of the simulation, is to arrive at a consensus for a new constitution for a post-apartheid South Africa in the midst of tremendous social anxiety and violence. The
simulation is focused on the problem of how to transition a society conditioned to profound inequalities, harsh political repression, and greater social and cultural diversity to a democratic, egalitarian system of governance.