Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Dr. Clifford Bob, Duquesne University professor of political science.

By Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, descendants of the Maya Indians have been at odds with the government ever since the days of the Spanish conquistadors.

But most people were unaware of that until 1994, when a group known as the Zapatistas suddenly entered the international spotlight, symbolized by a masked spokesman calling himself Subcomandante Marcos.

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Clifford Bob Title: Professor, political science, Duquesne University Age: 49 Residence: Sewickley Education: Bachelor's in social studies, Harvard University; law degree, New York University; Doctorate in political science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Previous positions: Attorney, Chadbourne & Parke, New York, 1984-90; teaching fellow, National University of Singapore law faculty, 1987-88 Professional honors: American Council of Learned Societies grant for 2008; several Duquesne University awards, 2002-06; best book award, International Studies Association, 2007 Books and publications: "The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism," 2005. Nine peer reviewed articles and book chapters Listen In: Mark Roth speaks with Duquesne University professor Clifford Bob on international issues. Bob believes that Non-Governmental Organizations, or NGOs, play a key role in shaping issues to gain outside support for certain ethnic, tribal or other interest groups. Bob discusses the how the Ogoni ethnic group in Nigeria was unsuccessful at attracting outside support until it began focusing on environmental damage caused by Shell Oil and other oil companies in the Niger River delta. A new area of research is the rise of conservative groups on the international scene. One of the most active has been the NRA. Here is Bob's description of how the NRA lobbied in Brazil before a referendum on whether to restrict small arms sales to civilians. The Series Click here to view other installments in this continuing series.

The armed rebels took over several cities in Chiapas, only to be quickly driven back into the hills by the Mexican Army.

But the Zapatista movement stayed alive, and it has been Clifford Bob's mission to explain why.

Dr. Bob is a political science professor at Duquesne University, and one of his major research projects has been to figure out why some groups, like the Zapatistas, gain international support, while others are mired in obscurity.

A book he wrote on that topic in 2005, "The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism," recently won the annual best book award from the International Studies Association.

The Zapatista movement, which is still active, vaulted into prominence for at least three reasons, Dr. Bob concluded.

First, the movement had a magnetic leader in Subcomandante Marcos, who turned out to be a former political science professor who was not an ethnic Indian but had lived among the indigenous people for years.

Shortly after the rebellion began, Dr. Bob said, Mr. Marcos "gave a series of lengthy interviews and turned out to be a very charismatic speaker and very creative and knowledgeable about issues western audiences were interested in."

In a sense, he said, Mr. Marcos was reminiscent of leaders like the Dalai Lama, who has given international prestige to the cause of Tibetan independence from China, even though there are other ethnic groups, like the Uighurs in western China, who have many of the same complaints against the Chinese majority but have remained below the radar.

The second advantage for the Zapatistas was a sense of drama. Wearing black masks and carrying weapons, the Indians staged a dramatic takeover that lasted less than a week, but helped promote their cause.

Finally, and most important, the Zapatistas figured out how to tap into issues that would draw support from outside groups.

The longtime grievances of the Mayan descendants were political autonomy and control over land, but by staging their rebellion on the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, Dr. Bob said, the Zapatistas were able to appeal to groups that had opposed the free trade pact, like labor unions and environmental organizations.

"By doing that," he said, "the Zapatistas really became a symbol of the anti-globalization movement."

In a similar way, Dr. Bob said, a small Nigerian ethnic group called the Ogoni got international attention by focusing on the environmental damage done by large oil companies in the Niger River delta region.

For many small ethnic and rebel groups around the world, getting the support of "nongovernmental organizations" like Greenpeace, Amnesty International or Friends of the Earth can mean the difference between surviving or being snuffed out by repressive regimes, he said.

"The way I look at it," he said, "there's almost a market for causes, and NGOs act to some extent as middlemen between a local cause that may not be that interesting to outsiders, and the audiences looking for causes to support."

Dr. Bob's interest in international politics stems from his days working for a large law firm in New York, when he took on pro bono cases of refugees from Sri Lanka, Guinea and Guatemala who were seeking political asylum.

Later, while teaching law at the National University of Singapore, he witnessed political dissidents being forced to apologize on national TV.

"I was fascinated and upset by this spectacle," he recalled, "and by the fear my local colleagues felt about criticizing the country's ruling party."

Not long after, he decided to study international politics.

After getting his Ph.D. in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Bob joined the Duquesne faculty in 1999.

This month, he got word he has received a $40,000 fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, which will subsidize him when he takes a sabbatical in August to begin working on a book exploring the emergence of right-wing groups on the international scene.

One prominent example is the National Rifle Association, which has been expanding its anti-gun control activism far beyond U.S. borders.

One of the NRA's leaders, Wayne LaPierre Jr., has a new book out entitled "The Global War on Your Guns: Inside the U.N. Plan To Destroy the Bill of Rights."

And in 2005, Dr. Bob said, the NRA's message was disseminated throughout Brazil before a nationwide referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns and ammunition to private citizens.

"There were very significant advertising campaigns talking about the right to bear arms and the need to protect oneself," he said, even though the Brazilian constitution does not have a clause on the "right to bear arms" as the U.S. Constitution does.

Driven by the fear of crime and the specter of future dictatorships, Brazilian voters rejected the ban by a 2-to-1 margin.

In studying the interplay between NGOs and cultures throughout the world, Dr. Bob said one of the constant strains is the tension between respect for traditional cultures and the push for universal human rights.

In many cases, those clashes come over women's issues in patriarchal societies. The controversy over female genital mutilation, in which young women were subjected to ritual sexual surgery, was one prominent example in recent years.

On issues like that, Dr. Bob said, he doesn't face too big a struggle.

"I guess I tend to look at the individual as where you should put the focus rather than the culture," he said. "To the extent that cultures engage in activities that result in mutilation or killing, those cultures shouldn't be privileged. I think individual rights are more important."