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Norms in International Relations: The Struggle against Apartheid
... Constructivists stress that both structural continuities and processes of change are based on agency. Agency, in turn, is influenced by social, spatial, and historical context...thus they also reject the individualism inherent in rationalist theories of choice, which take for granted nature of actors' interests and identities (Klotz;Lynch, 2007, p. 3). Na década de 1990, o construtivismo possibilitou a análise de grupos menos institucionalizados e com interesses mais normativos, da seguinte forma: by specifying activism both vertically, toward international institutions, and horizontally, across borders, constructivists returned to the terrain of transnational relations that Keohane and Nye had scouted two decades before, but with a richer conception of international advocacy (Tarrow, 2005. ...
... Constructivists stress that both structural continuities and processes of change are based on agency. Agency, in turn, is influenced by social, spatial, and historical context...thus they also reject the individualism inherent in rationalist theories of choice, which take for granted nature of actors' interests and identities (Klotz;Lynch, 2007, p. 3). ...
... Problemas de pesquisa similares podem ser explorados com vários métodos. O construtivismo arca com rica disponibilidade metodológica, pois caracteriza a relação interativa entre o que as pessoas fazem e como as sociedades moldam essas ações, ou seja, como se configura a constituição mútua de estruturas e agentes (Klotz;Lynch, 2007, p. 7). A análise empírica da constituição mútua requer aprofundamento de dois tópicos: a interpretação e a causalidade. ...
O caso do apartheid na África do Sul foi singular porque institucionalizou um arranjo sociojurídico diametralmente oposto às normas que balizaram a gestação da ordem internacional pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial. A notável contradição catalisou uma reação em cadeia no combate ao regime sul-africano, e o ativismo antiapartheid conseguiu operacionalizar uma das mais dinâmicas redes de ativismo transnacional, desenvolvendo canais de diálogo e um amplo leque de estratégias de combate nas esferas doméstica, regional e internacional. O presente estudo - ancorado na literatura construtivista sobre o ativismo transnacional - irá problematizar a formação e funcionamento da rede de ativismo transnacional antiapartheid e suas ferramentas operacionais, como o efeito-bumerangue, analisando sua influência sobre a execução de sanções estratégicas, sociais, econômicas contra o regime segregacionista sul-africano.
... In the promotion of norms, norm entrepreneurs, who inherently depend on organizational platforms, are composed of state and non-state actors. Civilians (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998), epistemic communities (Haas 1992), transnational social movements (Klotz 1995), nongovernmental organizations (Nadelmann 1990;Müller 2013), private companies (Hurel and Lubato 2018), political parties (Dakowska 2009), transgovernmental coalitions (Risse-Kappen 1995, international organizations (Müller 2013) can be considered as norm entrepreneurs. States, once perceived primarily as norm takers, have gained recognition as norm entrepreneurs actively advocating for normative change (Shannon 2017: 10). ...
This research examines the role of psychological operations as strategic instruments for normative change, with a focus on the Cold War broadcasts of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Using a constructivist framework, it identifies three key components shared by psychological operations and the norm change process: the agency of norm entrepreneurs, the use of framing techniques, and the intended normative influence. Through an in-depth analysis of archival documents, this research explores how the radio broadcasts reshaped public perceptions, countered Soviet narratives and promoted democratic norms across the Iron Curtain. The core findings reveal that psychological operations extend beyond simple information dissemination, operating as a dynamic and strategic approach for promoting norms. This approach relies on the employment of tailored framing and coordinated involvement of state and non-state actors, directed by intelligence agencies to craft and convey messages that foster desired normative shifts. These actors, identified here as norm entrepreneurs, bear responsibility for the planning and execution of psychological operations utilizing strategic communication skills to promote norms that resonate effectively with their target audiences.
... Order and recognition: making justice claims So far, norm conflicts were mostly addressed as single norm cases involving, for example, human rights, torture prohibition, non-intervention, responsibility to protect and their implementation, violation or contestation as well as their emergence, change or disappearance (Klotz 1995;Katzenstein 1996;Finnemore and Sikkink 1998;Sikkink 1999, 2013;Wiener and Puetter 2009;Krook and True 2012). While IR norms research has predominantly studied the effect of contestations on a norm, we know relatively little about their effect on global order. ...
Taking Global Constitutionalism as an agora, a platform for international interdisciplinary discussions this article asks a question about the state we are in with regard to the international order as an order that is not just a ‘rule-based order’ but also more substantially, a ‘legal order’ based on the rule of law. The topic is illustrated with reference to examples of ‘contested compliance’ i.e. objections to implementing international law and/or international rulings by international actors on behalf of signatories of states parties of a treaty. Three questions guide this discussion. The first is a question of normative change: are we facing a change regarding United Nations member states’ respect for and handling of the rule of law, or is a larger change of international law itself imminent? The second is a question about the effects of the shift from ‘normal’ contestations of norms to ‘deep’ contestations of the international order itself. And the third is a question about pluralism and diversity: are the UN Charter Order’s institutions, conventions and organisations sufficiently equipped to respond to an ever more diverse range of internationally, transnationally, and sub-nationally raised justice-claims? The article elaborates on each of the three themes in light of the current situation of contested compliance with obligations under international law.
... It also considers the interlinkage of the global, national, and local levels (for an overview: Lantis 2017; Sandholtz 2017). Processes of normative change have been assessed in a range of global policy fields and include studies of apartheid and slavery (Klotz 1995;Crawford 2002), humanitarian intervention and a responsibility to protect (Finnemore 1996;Welsh 2014), weapons of mass destruction (Price 1997;Tannenwald 2007) and torture (McKeown 2009; Schmidt and Sikkink 2019) but also whaling (Bailey 2008;Epstein 2008) or global crime (Nadelmann 1990;Jakobi 2013). Existing research on norms, however, rarely considers the activities and roles of ICNs (but see Jakobi and Loges 2022). ...
Bridging across the strands of urban studies, norm research and network research, this article examines how International Relations (IR) research can contribute to a comprehensive and comparative analysis of international city networks (ICNs). ICNs have regularly been examined in urban studies, showing a growing degree of networking among cities, global representation of urban actors, but also a growing implementation of global norms on the local level. Yet, we know little on the variety of ICNs’ activities and explanations for them. To facilitate further research on ICNs and explain this variance, the paper proceeds in four main steps: We first present research in urban studies, highlighting the manifold empirical insights linked to ICNs and global norms, yet also showing that generalizable explanations on what causes specific activities of these networks deserve more attention. In a second step, with a view to classify ICNs’ activities, we show how norm research can enrich the study of ICNs. In particular, we show the existent variety of activities in norm dynamics, ranging from norm initiation and adoption to norm contestation. In a third step, emphasizing that ICNs are global networks, we review IR network
research with a view to examine the structural characteristics of ICNs and their influence on ICNs’ activities. In a final step, we show that combining these research strands leads to a more comprehensive understanding of specific ICNs, and using them as complementary approaches enables the systematic development of novel hypotheses on ICNs. All in all, the article paves a way not only to more systematic research on ICNs, but also for cross-fertilization of usually separated research strands in IR.
... Why would the Reagan administration end up undermining the South African apartheid government? By putting the question in this manner, Klotz (1995) de facto follows the setup envisaged by Goldstein and Keohane: the interest explanation (Cold War competition) is the null hypothesis that defines the puzzle, and an ideational analysis is meant to fix it. Her explanation shows how anti-apartheid norms trumped strategic interests. ...
The disintegration and questioning of global governance structures and a reorientation toward national politics combined with the spread of technological innovations such as big data, social media, and phenomena like fake news, populism, or questions of global health policies make it necessary for the introduction of new methods of inquiry and the adaptation of established methods in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). This accessible handbook offers concise chapters from expert international contributors covering a diverse range of new and established FPA methods. Embracing methodological pluralism and a belief in the value of an open discussion about methods' assumptions and diverging positions, it provides new, state-of-the-art research approaches, as well as introductions to a range of established methods. Each chapter follows the same approach, introducing the method and its development, discussing strengths, requirements, limitations, and potential pitfalls while illustrating the method's application using examples from empirical research. Embracing methodological pluralism and problem-oriented research that engages with real-world questions, the authors examine quantitative and qualitative traditions, rationalist and interpretivist perspectives, as well as different substantive backgrounds. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students in global politics, foreign policy, and methods-related classes across the social sciences.
... Kaitan antara Mundane Circular Economy Policy (MCEP) dan kajian mengenai normal global dalam studi hubungan internasional melibatkan pemahaman tentang bagaimana prinsip-prinsip ekonomi sirkular dapat mempengaruhi dan membentuk tatanan global dalam konteks transisi keberlanjutan. Dalam kajian hubungan internasional, normal global merujuk pada pola perilaku, aturan, dan norma yang diterima oleh aktor-aktor dalam sistem internasional (Klotz, 2018). MCEP, sebagai konsep yang menghubungkan prinsip-prinsip ekonomi sirkular dengan implementasi kebijakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, memiliki implikasi yang relevan dalam konteks normal global. ...
This research introduces the concept of "Mundane Circular Economy Policy" (MCEP) in the study of International Political Economy (IPE) and explains how this paper relates to broader IR issues such as sustainability, global economic dynamics, and global education policies. The research methodology employed is Multi Criteria Mapping, which analyzes complex and uncertain issues like Circular Schools. Through the participation of 22 primary school principals in Central Java, three outputs were generated from this research: (1) a map of circular school policies, highlighting 58 policy initiatives that implement the 5R principles (Reduce, Rethink, Reuse, Repair, Recycle); (2) a map of assessment criteria for circular policies; and (3) a mapping of optimism and pessimism in implementing the 5R principles in circular schools. These outputs have significant implications within the context of IPE, as they demonstrate how schools can act as agents in creating economically and politically sustainable environments.
... When movements employ pressure, they threaten or impose costs on pillars. For example, the anti-Apartheid movement used protests and boycotts to pressure foreign governments and multinational corporations to divest from Apartheid South Africa (Klotz 2018). ...
Can civil resistance counter democratic backsliding? Civil resistance campaigns are most effective when they shift the loyalty of regime “pillars of support.” Yet we know little about how loyalty shifts occur or the tactics that erstwhile pillars employ post-loyalty shift. And the literature has focused on civil resistance against autocracies, rather than democratic backsliding. To fill these gaps, we collect and analyze data on actions by resistance campaigns and four key pillars of support in a random sample of democratic backsliding periods. We find that civil resistance is associated with democracy protection, but success rates are lower than in campaigns against autocracies; that quiet diplomacy and relationship-building by activists are most effective in shifting pillar loyalty; and that noncooperation tactics by pillar actors are particularly successful. We further support these findings with an illustrative case study of the 2004 Ukrainian “Orange Revolution.”
... Apartheid was implemented from 1948 to 1994 by the National Party, the South African government of the time (Pretorius, 2012). Apartheid provoked resistance within South Africa as well as disapproval internationally (Klotz, 1999), with several organisations, such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), and the Black Conscious Movement (BCM) 2 mobilising to fight against apartheid (Kurtz, 2010). Resistance was met with counter-measures by the government, leading to various anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Albert Luthuli being imprisoned or exiled from South Africa (Pretorius, 2012). ...
This chapter illustrates the value of psychobiographical approaches in modern psychological pedagogy, particularly psychobiographies of underrepresented lives where traditional empirical work is often lacking. We illustrate this with a psychobiography of Flora Tristan, a nineteenth century French/Peruvian feminist and social activist. Tristan’s life serves to highlight the rich complexities that go beyond the conventional conceptions of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development. Specifically, Tristan’s passionate generativity showcased through her activist identity illustrates that Erikson’s adult stages of identity development, intimacy formation, and generativity are not as independent and sequential constructs as traditionally presented in Erikson’s model. This pattern echoes other psychobiographical work, recent psychometric and longitudinal studies of Eriksonian constructs, and Erikson’s own theorizing and psychobiographical work. In illustrating these points, this chapter serves as an example of and provides tools for how psychobiographical exploration into non-WEIRD samples can be integrated into pedagogy and, by extension, can impact scholarship in specific areas.KeywordsPsychobiographyGenerativityIdentityFlora Tristan
... Rather, it is the belief systems, ideologies and social practices -all principles espoused by constructivism -that best explain this phenomenon. Many studies, including those by Dauber et al (1987), Nadelman (1990), Finnemore (1993), Lumsdaine (1993), Klotz (1997) and Meyer et al (1997) have validated the importance culture and norms can have on the international policy of countries. ...
Nigeria’s first major diplomatic cooperation with the Soviet Union began with military cooperation during the Nigerian Civil war many decades ago. Since then, the relationship between both countries has grown in leaps and bounds, but it has remained relatively modest when compared with those of other countries. This article provides an analysis of the relationship between both countries from the viewpoints of the two leading theories of international relations, neorealism and constructivism. While many scholars often classify Russia’s intentions as neorealist, we argue that it is the constructivist approach which offers the best explanation of Russia’s relationship with Nigeria.
... Therefore, understanding the history of evidence use and practices within the UN since its inception, and/or over the duration of a long negotiation process, can help us to understand its role and value as of the present day. Assumed within this is a sociological notion that institutions tend to be stable and change slowly over time as ideas, norms and cultures change (Klotz, 1995), as opposed to the more rational choice institutionalism that hypothesises institutional change as occurring when the institutional dynamics no longer provide benefits to the membership (Shepsle, 2008). Usefully, historical institutionalism provides analytical approaches for understanding potential stasis or change. ...
In Part II of this book, I theorised that the influence of science on multilateral negotiation could be understood through 4 criteria: representation and access, the organisation of epistemic communities, framing and temporal dynamics. The empirical analysis presented above reveals several theoretical and practical insights that augment these criteria, which are here explored in order to better explain the influence of scientific evidence in multilateral policy development, for example, under representation and access the space afforded by new institutional arrangements was a recurrent theme of the interviews. Meanwhile each epistemic community demonstrated highly diverse influencing and engagement approaches, suggesting that the modalities of engagement for non-state actors are wholly contingent on the structure and coherence of their community.KeywordsRepresentationPoliticsFramingAccessInformal negotiationEpistemic communitiesSocialisation of ideas
... Transnational norm advocates include international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions, and churches (Finnemore & Sikkink, 1998, Haas, 1992, Klotz, 1995. Scientists and experts who work internationally to influence policies and bring about normative change also fall under the category of transnational norm advocates (Keck & Sikkink, 1998). ...
More than 200 million girls and women today are estimated to have gone through female genital mutilation (FGM). In this study, I make a novel contribution to the global literature on FGM by examining domestic resistance to the anti-FGM norm in the context of norm diffusion processes. I provide a novel theoretical perspective to the study of FGM by introducing a compromise-building approach. According to this approach, strong local resistance to a transnational norm that obligates the removal of harmful traditional practices might motivate some transnational norm advocates to support a compromise solution to minimize harm, leading to normative contestation in the transnational domain. This approach is illustrated by the rise of advocacy for medicalized and minor forms of FGM as a harm reduction strategy as a result of the continuation of traditional forms of FGM. The compromise-building approach also brings a new theoretical perspective to the literature on norm diffusion.
... In contrast, holistic constructivism notes that international relations and domestic politics consist of thoughts and ideas and not only material conditions and forces (Jackson and Sørensen 2003). This theory also notes that states can be constrained by social normative structures (Hobson 2000) which imply norms to be the shared or social standards of proper or appropriate behaviour (Klotz 1995;Towns 2012). Because of the centrality of norms, the theory focuses on the core ide-ational elements of inter-subjective beliefs (ideas, conceptions, assumptions, emotions and so forth) that are shared or not shared by people that shape society (Jackson and Sørensen 2003). ...
The implementation of water resource management projects is not immune to the impulses of domestic and international politics, people’s perceptions, norms and power, and the perceptions and reactions of humans to the biophysical environment. In this article, I investigate two projects: the Odendaalstroom irrigation project and the Aliwal North water supply and hydro-electric scheme. Both were mooted in 1898 and investigated in 1899 by the Cape Colony (under British control) and the independent Boer Republic of the Orange Free State. These projects could have been the earliest examples of transboundary river cooperation between two state entities in South Africa. This was, however, not meant to be since the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War between Britain and the Orange Free State and the South African Republic in October 1899 stymied these plans. The theoretical departure of the article is analytical eclecticism, which is the selective utilisation of different theories to deepen our understanding of issues, actors and structures. That said, I will employ a range of perspectives to shed light on the history of the two projects. In other words, the paper interrelates socio-political theory and historical material to understand how water resource management projects had been influenced by politics, norms and power relations. I will employ three international relations theories: holistic constructivism, liberal-pluralism and variants of realism to move towards a deeper understanding of the projects and the context surrounding their non-implementation. Based on these theories, it is not only state or government action that can have an impact on water resource projects, but also individuals’ (and not only political leaders) norms and perceptions towards one another and the issue at hand.
... Once constructivism gained a disciplinary foothold, it generally contributed more to a broadened disciplinary research agenda than to ushering in a theoretical revolution. To name a few examples: interest in norms (Klotz, 1995;Reus-Smit, 1999), in transnational movements (Khagram, Riker, & Sikkink, 2002;Finnemore & Sikkink, 1998;Keck & Sikkink, 1998), in issues of identity (Katzenstein, 1996;Lapid & Kratochwil, 1996;Hall, 1999;Wilmer, 2002;Telhami & Barnett, 2002;Checkel & Katzenstein, 2009), in more robust security arrangements and arms control (Adler, 1992;Risse-Kappen, 1995;Adler & Barnett, 1998), and in decolonization and humanitarian intervention (Crawford, 2002). Arguably, these resulted more from changes in international politics and from the realization that the global ordering was no longer an exclusive "state" project rather than from a theoretical paradigm shift within the discipline. ...
Constructivism in the social sciences has known several ups and downs over the last decades. It was successful rather early in sociology but hotly contested in International Politics/Relations (IR). Oddly enough, just at the moments it made important inroads into the research agenda and became accepted by the mainstream, the enthusiasm for it waned. Many constructivists-as did mainstream scholars-moved from "grand theory" or even "meta-theory" toward "normal science," or experimented with other (eclectic) approaches, of which the turns to practices, to emotions, to new materialism, to the visual, and to the queer are some of the latest manifestations. In a way, constructivism was "successful," on the one hand, by introducing norms, norm-dynamics, and diffusion; the role of new actors in world politics; and the changing role of institutions into the debates, while losing, on the other hand, much of its critical potential. The latter survived only on the fringes-and in Europe more than in the United States. In IR, curiously, constructivism, which was rooted in various European traditions (philosophy, history, linguistics, social analysis), was originally introduced in Europe via the disciplinary discussions taking place in the United States. Yet, especially in its critical version, it has found a more conducive environment in Europe than in the United States. In the United States, soon after its emergence, constructivism became "mainstreamed" by having its analysis of norms reduced to "variable research." In such research, positive examples of for instance the spread of norms were included, but strangely empirical evidence of counterexamples of norm "deaths" (preventive strikes, unlawful combatants, drone strikes, extrajudicial killings) were not. The elective affinity of constructivism and humanitarianism seemed to have transformed the former into the Enlightenment project of "progress." Even Kant was finally pressed into the service of "liberalism" in the U.S. discussion, and his notion of the "practical interest of reason" morphed into the political project of an "end of history." This "slant" has prevented a serious conceptual engagement with the "history" of law and (inter-)national politics and the epistemological problems that are raised thereby. This bowdlerization of constructivism is further buttressed by the fact that in the "knowledge industry" none of the "leading" U.S. departments has a constructivist on board, ensuring thereby the narrowness of conceptual and methodological choices to which the future "professionals" are exposed. This article contextualizes constructivism and its emergence within a changing world and within the evolution of the discipline. The aim is not to provide a definition or a typology of constructivism, since such efforts go against the critical dimension of constructivism. An application of this critique on constructivism itself leads to a reflection on truth, knowledge, and the need for (re-)orientation.
... Some non-statist constructivist analysis has focused on NGOs and their role in the construction of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty (Rutherford 2000), and NGOs in the context of development studies (Hilhorst 2003); but also multilateral environmental governance (Haas 2000), markets (MacEwan 1999), human rights (Sikkink 1993;Keck and Sikkink ·1998), apartheid (Klotz 1995), 'secondary' institutions (Simmons and Martin 2002), and transnational advocacy networks . These studies indicate a welcome move away from constructivists' preoccupation with states. ...
p>This thesis attempts to answer the following question: How was it possible for Global Public-Private partnerships (GPPPs) to rise to prominence as a key mechanism of global health governance (GHG)? I argue that in order to understand this development, it is important to take into account the role of discourse and ideas. Most studies of GHG, which I categorise as either power-based or interest-based, do not take discourse and ideas seriously. I propose an alternative, constructivist approach to GHG that does take them seriously. I do not argue that constructivism provides a better account of GHG than either power-based or interest-based analyses, but I do argue that it provides additional and important insights into the dynamics of GHG.
From the initial claim that discourse and ideas are important to understand the rise of GPPPs, I show in my thesis how, where, and when they are important. In response to the question of how ideas and discourse are important, I argue that they constituted and constructed the practice of GPPP. To show this, I develop a discursive framework that examines four functions of discourse: the cognitive, the normative, the coordinative, and the communicative. I apply this framework to three neglected disease GPPPs: the Stop TB partnership, the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative, and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. I show that even though these GPPPs had quite different institutional structures, they were discursively constructed in the same way.
In response to the question of where ideas and discourse are important, I distinguish between micro and macro levels. At the micro level, I show that the four functions of discourse did not operate equally across each of the three GPPPs. At the macro level, I show that the key architects of the three GPPPs comprised a network of global health actors. I argue that the relationship between the actors that comprised the network, and the ideas that structured it, can be conceived in structurationalist terms.
In response to the question of when ideas and discourse are important, I argue that ideas and discourse ‘truly matter’ when they reconfigure actors’ interests, and to more than simply reflect institutional path dependence and cultural norms. The evidence for this in my study of the rise of GPPPs is, however, scant. I show that the ideas and discourse of GPPP actually took place against four ‘background conditions’ that themselves were crucial for the change from public and private global health provision to global public-private partnership. When these conditions pertained, it was possible for the discourse and ideas of GPPP to flourish.</p
... 18 For example, see Bass 2000;Leonard 2005;Sikkink 2011;Teitel 2011. 19 Finnemore 1996Finnemore and Sikkink 1998;Keck and Sikkink 1998;Klotz 1995;Price 2007;Reus-Smit 1999;Tannenwald 2007. 20 International Theory behavioural regularity and an acknowledgement of their legality, the obligatory character of legal rules. ...
This article examines international criminalization, the process by which particular acts come to be established as international crimes in world politics. While international legal scholars suggest international criminalization constitutes a legal process that centres on international legal codification, this article argues, by drawing upon the insights of constructivist International Relations scholarship, that it is better conceived as a social process. More specifically, the process of international criminalization involves the development of an international social consensus on international criminality, which takes hold in international society following diplomatic negotiations between social actors. Furthermore, international criminalization embraces a two-stage process that requires, firstly, the emergence of an international criminal norm and secondly, the translation of that norm into an international legal proscription. Using these conceptual insights, the article analyses, through a close analysis of international archival documents, the historical emergence of genocide, in order to demonstrate how its proposed conceptualization of international criminalization can better explain how and why this act was specifically established as an international crime. In doing so, the article offers an alternative account of genocide's criminalization which, unlike the existing literature, goes some way towards uncovering the processes of social construction that informed its establishment as an international crime.
... Norm diffusion has retrospectively been taken as a process by which local domestic norms become replaced by global norms, and thus local normative orders become attuned to the global normative order (Cortell and Davis, 2000;Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998;Klotz, 1995). This is particularly observable in the way the global dissemination and functioning of the norms of human rights, democracy or development are described. ...
This research problematizes the contested nature of the global norm diffusion by focusing on intra-group rivalries and fragmentations shaping local responses (often reactionary and resistant) to global norms. Such an examination is important primarily to account for what leads to shifts in the local reception of norms over time. This study empirically explores local fragmentation, rivalry and change in response nexus in the example of the reception of the global gender equality norms in Turkey by the conservative normative bloc. It reveals that the conservative bloc is not a monolithic normative order and that there are two main competing receptions of the gender equality norm within the group in Turkey. With a firm emphasis on Turkey’s first initiating and later withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the study elaborates how the institutionalized conservative response to gender equality has shifted from a compromising acceptance to a rejection over time.
... However, the rhetorical acceptance of global governance structures rarely leads to spontaneous compliance. The cases of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s or the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa (Klotz 1995) illustrate how international opportunities and incentives play a crucial role in the enforcement and effectiveness of human rights norms. Implementation and enforcement represent a distinctly different agenda both for transnational NGOs and researchers seeking to understand their role in global politics. ...
International NGOs become viable “global players” when they selectively emulate states and their desire for autonomy as a prerequisite for influence. Actors in the global system are drawn towards similar forms of organization and mimic others to increase their own legitimacy. States are characterized by their exclusive control over a territory, a population, the means of violence, and their right to representation in international affairs. Many transnational NGOs eschew exclusive control over a territory or the monopoly of violence, but they use specific strategies to mimic the state model. Non-governmental organizations often create a membership base (“population”), a hierarchical and professional governance structure (“government”), independent research capabilities (“intelligence”), a coherent set of goals pursued against other state and non-state entities (“foreign policy”), and an often contentious repertoire of activism (“diplomacy”).
... Robert Keohane (1988, 386) offered a widely accepted conceptualization of institutions as "persistent and connected sets of rules (formal and informal) that prescribe behavioral roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations." Finally, constructivists conceive of institutions as sets of norms and beliefs (Klotz 1995;Finnemore and Sikkink 1998;Wendt 1999). Some explicitly exclude tacit bargains and implicit agreements (Koremenos et al. 2001), while the influential notion of international regimes includes both implicit and explicit rules, norms, and procedures (Krasner 1983, 2). ...
Abstract
Why are some institutions without any policy powers or output? This study documents the efforts by governments to create empty international institutions whose mandates deprive them of any capacity for policy formulation or implementation. Examples include the United Nations Forum on Forests, the Copenhagen Accord on Climate Change, and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Research is based on participation in twenty-one rounds of negotiations over ten years and interviews with diplomats, policymakers and observers. The article introduces the concept of empty institutions, provides evidence from three empirical cases, theorizes their political functions, and discusses theoretical implications and policy ramifications. Empty institutions are deliberately designed not to deliver and serve two purposes. First, they are political tools for hiding failure at negotiations, by creating a public impression of policy progress. Second, empty institutions are “decoys” that distract public scrutiny and legitimize collective inaction, by filling the institutional space in a given issue area and by neutralizing pressures for genuine policy. Contrary to conventional academic wisdom, institutions can be raised as obstacles that pre-empt governance rather than facilitate it.
... The adoption of Resolutions 2202 A (XXI) which declared apartheid a crime against humanity and Resolution 2506 on 21 November 1969, saw the UNGA recognizing the struggle against apartheid as the struggle for human rights. Many other similar Resolutions were sponsored by the Africa Group in the 1960s and 1970s (Klotz, 1996). These examples alone are enough to make a case for Africa"s place in IR. ...
... In the case of an international norm entering into the public domain of a state, even if political leadership rejects the norm, that norm 'may become embedded in domestic political discourse by reasoning with important domestic actors, which may force the leadership to acknowledge the norm and act on it' (Cass, 2006, 9). In Klotz's (1995) social constructivist examination of South Africa and Apartheid, the author shows that an exceptionally large body of states around the world worked together to confront the South African government that promoted racial inequality and used it as the basis of its domestic policy for years. The pressure that was built as a result of international opposition to the government, despite this running counter the economic interests of those states, leading to the eventual collapse of the Apartheid regime. ...
... In the case of an international norm entering into the public domain of a state, even if political leadership rejects the norm, that norm 'may become embedded in domestic political discourse by reasoning with important domestic actors, which may force the leadership to acknowledge the norm and act on it' (Cass, 2006, 9). In Klotz's (1995) social constructivist examination of South Africa and Apartheid, the author shows that an exceptionally large body of states around the world worked together to confront the South African government that promoted racial inequality and used it as the basis of its domestic policy for years. The pressure that was built as a result of international opposition to the government, despite this running counter the economic interests of those states, leading to the eventual collapse of the Apartheid regime. ...
There is hardly any aspect of social, political, and economic life today that is not also governed internationally. Drawing on debates around hierarchy, hegemony, and authority in international politics, this volume takes the study of the international 'beyond anarchy' a step further by establishing the concept of rule as the defining feature of order in the international realm. The contributors argue that the manifold conceptual approaches to sub- and superordination in the international should be understood as rich conceptualizations of one concept: rule. Rule allows constellations of sub- and superordination in the international to be seen as multiplex, systemic, and normatively ambiguous phenomena that need to be studied in the context of their interplay and consequences. This volume draws on a variety of conceptualizations of rule, exploring, in particular, the practices of rule as well as the relational and dynamic characteristics of rule in international politics.
This chapter examines how the People’s Republic of China successfully influenced the development of the R2P norm from 2001 to 2005, based on its national understanding of state sovereignty. It analyzes speeches and statements by the Chinese delegation to the United Nations and official Chinese foreign policy papers. China “localized” and reconstructed the R2P concept drawing on local ideas and traditions and then advanced a respective understanding at the transnational level. China succeeded in distancing itself from the original draft of the “norm entrepreneurs” and portrayed R2P as a Western attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states. China weakened the substantial value of the norm but strengthened the referential value for countries in the Global South who expressed similar concerns about R2P.
This chapter reflects on the salient elements discussed throughout the book. It includes key take-aways and chief highlights of each REC. The 1st chapter outlines major reasons for undertaking the project and the structure of subsequent chapters. The conceptual frameworks address current IR theories and their assumptions, challenging the idea of understanding Africa's regionalism and RECs through major foreign policy theories, e.g., neoliberal institutionalism, complex interdependence and decentralized cooperation theory. Then, a rival explanation is proposed, based on Kuhnian paradigm shift: that communitarian, African societal traditions, are a more useful explanan of regional integration and REC formation. The next chapters trace the development of regional (and continental) cooperation through RECs in the context of the 1981 Abuja Accord and the ‘pillars’ of African Economic Community (AEC). Whether Africa's RECs are norm entrepreneurs and influence the behavior of member states is contemplated, and if RECs do enhance regional integration and increase trade, given that most African nations have (mostly) predominantly agrarian economies. REC membership and frequency are interrogated for correlations with, and impact on governance, conflict reduction and pacific behavior, and fostering socio-economic development, finding that while these may not be the most important REC contributions, RECs have achieved other noteworthy outcomes.
Small hydropower plants (SHPs) are posing a significant risk to the environment in Europe, whilst their contribution to the energy sector is rather low. This article is examining civil society organisations (CSOs) lobbying activity, during 2017–2018, on opposing the construction of SHPs in Ukraine and Moldova. It is argued that CSOs framed their cause as a legal issue, and not just as an environmental one, aiming at amplifying their persuasive power. First, it is analysed how CSOs framed their cause when interacting with citizens and media, and second, with international organisations. Framing is systematically studied based on media content analysis in both countries and on reports published by CSOs within the Eastern Partnership framework. The findings contribute to a better understanding of framing, by bridging the literature on social movement and transnational climate governance.
Although there are countless examples of science informing policy over the nineteenth and twentieth century, theory relating to how this process happens has evolved significantly in recent years. Today there are three dominant schools of thought which consider how evidence can be used to inform policy outcomes; political science, decision-making theory, and policy studies. Political science emphasises the design of evidence, through classical models of social enquiry, as fundamental to ensuring political impact (Green 2005). Decision-science or decision-making theory emphasises the processes of deliberation and contestation through which decisions are reached thereby highlighting potential entry points at which evidence can be presented (Goldie et al. 2006). Meanwhile policy studies emphasises the process of policy formulation, with models ranging from decade-long cycles, to messy non-linear processes of coalitions weighing-up evidence inputs, beliefs, and political influences to design and advocate for interventions (Sabatier 1988; Cairney 2013). The most expansive literature on evidence to policy-uptake stems from the field of policy studies referred to as Evidence-Based or Evidence-Informed Policy (EBP / EIP), which has borrowed heavily from the evidence-based practice movement which started in medical research.KeywordsScienceKnowledgePolicy cyclesEvidence-based and evidence-informed policyEpistemic communitiesInstitutionsFraming
This article explores the effects of United Nations (UN) emergency Covid-19 aid on its organizational reputation in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region—the prominent aid recipient under this scheme. MENA states are traditionally critical of the UN, perceiving it as a representative of Western and colonial order. We argue that Covid-19 presented an opportunity to reinforce UN regional reputation, despite historical grievances. We perform an original online two-stage survey among 667 social media users in the three most funded MENA states—Syria, Yemen, and Sudan, where reliable data are particularly difficult to attain. The results demonstrate how long-term positive perception of the UN improved over time, enhancing UN reputation.
For Henry Kissinger, a stable international order is not only based on a balance of power, but also on a balance of identities, of “visions of itself ”. How do our observational theories of international relations come to understand this practical maxim? This article shows that rationalist theories, methodological underpinnings fall short of satisfactorily addressing the issue, while constructivism’s and post-structuralism’s social ontology and relational understanding of identity provide a better starting point. And yet, when we return from the level of explanatory theory back to foreign policy practice, constructivist theorizing, precisely for its focus on identity, risks of being abused for the purpose of nationalist apologies of the very kind that makes a balance of identities impossible.
There is a robust literature on the World Bank's shift toward participatory development in the 1990s but scant attention to the specific way in which participation was defined in terms of “stakeholder” inclusion. Rather than the poor, NGOs, or some other constituency, participation was framed in terms of stakeholders, or all affected parties. Thus, there are two related outcomes to explain: a shift in institutional practice and the formation of a novel subject of development governance. Drawing on pragmatist and object-oriented international relations, I develop a model of how institutions become objects of sustained and collective reflection, at once opening the possibility for institutional change and new political subjectivity. In the case of the Bank, I specifically argue that out of a period of crisis, actors inside and outside the Bank reflected on the problem of development, borrowing from past experiments with systems managerialism to define the contours of the problem and pose solutions. Using Bank documents, I show how the logic of systems managerialism helped define the problem of development in terms of complexity and pose stakeholder inclusion as an effective solution. The result was not only new practices but the articulation of the stakeholder as a novel political subject.
Existen muchas publicaciones sobre el giro del Banco Mundial hacia el desarrollo participativo en los 90, pero escasa atención a la manera específica en la que la participación fue definida en términos de inclusión de las “partes interesadas”. En lugar de referirse a las poblaciones más vulnerables, las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) u otros sectores, la participación se enmarcó en términos de las partes interesadas o todas las partes afectadas. Por lo tanto, hay dos resultados relacionados para explicar: un cambio en la práctica institucional y la formación de un tema novedoso sobre la gobernanza del desarrollo. Basándome en las relaciones internacionales (International Relations, IR) pragmáticas y orientadas al objeto, elaboro un modelo de cómo las instituciones se convierten en objetos de reflexión sostenida y colectiva, abriendo, a la vez, la posibilidad de un cambio institucional y una nueva subjetividad política. En el caso del Banco, sostengo específicamente que, a partir de un periodo de crisis, los agentes dentro y fuera del Banco reflexionaron sobre el problema de desarrollo y tomaron prestados los experimentos del pasado con el gerencialismo de sistemas para definir los perfiles del problema y plantear soluciones. A través de los documentos del Banco, muestro de qué manera la lógica del gerencialismo de sistemas ayudó a definir el problema de desarrollo en términos de complejidad y a plantear la inclusión de las partes interesadas como una solución efectiva. El resultado no fueron solo prácticas nuevas, sino también la articulación de las partes interesadas como un tema político novedoso.
On dispose à ce jour de plusieurs ouvrages traitant de la tendance de la Banque mondiale à privilégier le développement participatif dans les années 90, mais on ne prête pas suffisamment attention à la concrétisation de la participation en ce qui concerne l'inclusion des « parties prenantes ». Contrairement aux pauvres, aux ONG ou à d'autres groupes d'intérêt, la participation a été définie en fonction des parties prenantes, ou de toutes les parties concernées. Par conséquent, il convient d'expliquer deux effets complémentaires : un changement dans la pratique institutionnelle et la naissance d'un nouveau concept de gouvernance du développement. En m'appuyant sur la RI pragmatiste et objectiviste, je propose un modèle montrant comment les institutions deviennent des objets de réflexion durable et collective, offrant à la fois des opportunités d'une réforme institutionnelle et d'une nouvelle subjectivité politique. Pour le cas de la Banque mondiale, je soutiens en particulier que suite à une période de crise, les acteurs internes et externes à la Banque se sont penchés sur le problème du développement, en s'inspirant des expériences passées concernant la gestion des systèmes pour en définir les grandes lignes et proposer des solutions conséquentes. En me basant sur la documentation de la Banque pour démontrer comment la dynamique de la gestion des systèmes a contribué à définir le problème du développement par sa complexité et à présenter l'inclusion des parties prenantes comme une solution efficace. Il en résulte non seulement de nouvelles pratiques, mais également la mise en place d'un nouveau sujet politique pour les parties prenantes.
Do citizens care whether their government breaches international law, or are other imperatives more influential? We consider this question in the human rights arena, asking whether and how it matters how abuses are framed. In a novel survey experiment, we ask Australians about their attitudes toward restrictive immigration policy, holding the underlying breaches constant but varying how they are framed. We find that people most strongly oppose policy that violates international law. Emphasizing moral considerations has smaller but still notable impacts on attitudes, whereas reputational frames have the weakest effects. We also find that translating attitudes into political action is challenging: most who learn of current policy's legal, moral, or reputational dimensions and in turn become more critical do not subsequently express greater interest in trying to do something about it. Nonetheless, there are interesting differences across frames. Appealing to international law or moral considerations is more effective at spurring mobilization than emphasizing reputational harm, though via different mechanisms. Framing this debate in international reputational terms consistently has the weakest impacts on interest in political action, and may be worse than saying nothing at all.
This is the latest version of a document that provides an introduction into some fundamental decisions when it comes to draft a research design. It originated from the experiences gathered while teaching Research Design to PhD students at several universities and workshops and was updated ever since its first version from 2004. Among other things, it includes a discussion about the 'what-why-how', the difference between empirical and theoretical designs, the role of research puzzles, as well as the different forms of empirical theorisation (generalisation, abstraction, translation) and their relation to the naturalist/interpretivist divide.
This paper analyses and compares the dynamics of sociospatial inequalities in districts of three cities located in the Northeast of France for the period 1990–1999–2006. The idea is to measure and track the dynamics of these inequalities that reveal significant urban fractures. Sociospatial disparities between districts and changes in them are measured using a multidate factorial statistical analysis. To do this, this paper collates 17 indicators from population censuses referring to characteristics of households and housing so as to compare not just the level of segregation but also the trajectory of neighbourhoods towards greater gentrification, pauperisation, or mixing. By analysing the selective processes of population distribution and urban change and monitoring them over time, this paper shows that inequalities have intensified in the three studied cities and that rich and poor segregated enclaves have become accentuated despite the objectives of social mixing of French urban policies. Other explanatory factors are therefore highlighted, such as the urban functions of the cities, residents' behaviours, and the “hidden” ethnic dimension, that all question the effectiveness of governmental actions, particularly on social mixing and diversity.
When governments make decisions regarding exports of military equipment, they often look at humanitarian conditions in potential importers, considering the state of human rights or whether arms sales could multiply violence. However, why do governments care about ‘distant strangers’? And why are these concerns present in some situations but not in others? I argue that their existence is dependent on the type of domestic political system: the more democratic a country is the more likely governments are to consider humanitarian aspects in decisions regarding arms exports. The causal mechanism is in part explained by activities conducted by norm entrepreneurs, whose emergence is facilitated by the existence of institutions commonly found in democratic countries, especially a system of checks and balances, contested elections, and political and civil liberties. When norm entrepreneurs, through domestic politics, organise campaigns targeting arms exports, governments are more likely to introduce or maintain humanitarian concerns in the decision-making. Domestic politics and norms-based campaigns can therefore shape arms export policies and practice.
Although the IR literature has looked at this topic, it has focused on the role of transnational advocacy networks and the creation of international regulations on arms control. This thesis has a different approach: it looks at this topic from the inside-out, demonstrating that the introduction of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports occurred initially through domestic politics. The emergence of international regimes occurred later, reflecting the will of a few states and civil society groups, which sought to export their established norms to the international level, in a process that I call ‘norm uploading’. In this ‘second stage’, civil society groups were more likely to combine efforts with governments to promote treaties regulating the arms trade.
This thesis adopts a mixed-method approach. Initially, it uses quantitative methods to test potential determinants of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports, as well as to select cases for further analysis. Subsequently, studies are conducted on Brazil and the United Kingdom. In these countries, I initially look at the causal mechanism through which levels of democracy and civil society campaigns shape behaviour regarding arms exports. Next, I examine why and how the governments of these two countries sought to export their practices to the rest of the world or opted to join international regimes.
This article considers the role of norms in the debate on autonomous weapons systems (AWS). It argues that the academic and political discussion is largely dominated by considerations of how AWS relate to norms institutionalised in international law. While this debate on AWS has produced insights on legal and ethical norms and sounded options of a possible regulation or ban, it neglects to investigate how complex human‐machine interactions in weapons systems can set standards of appropriate use of force, which are politically normatively relevant but take place outside of formal, deliberative law‐setting. While such procedural norms are already emerging in the practice of contemporary warfare, the increasing technological complexity of AI‐driven weapons will add to their political‐normative relevance. I argue that public deliberation about and political oversight and accountability of the use of force is at risk of being consumed and normalised by functional procedures and perceptions. This can have a profound impact on future of remote‐warfare and security policy. The more control shifts from humans to machines in terms of algorithms or machine‐learning, the less the definition of what use of force ought to be in practices is still subject to legal‐political accountability and authority.
Die Dissertation untersucht die Rolle von NGOs, des Privatsektors und von mittelgrossen Staaten bei der Lösung von Kleinwaffenproblemen sowie die Wirksamkeit von unkonventionellen Allianzen zwischen NGOs und Nationalstaaten in diesem Bereich. Sie erklärt, weshalb Grossmächte nicht aktiv geworden aktiv geworden sind; weshalb und wie Partnerschaften zwischen Mittelmächten und NGOs in diese Lücke gesprungen sind; wie sie es geschafft haben, Werte und Verhalten in Bezug auf Kleinwaffen zu verändern; und welche Resultate sie - insbesondere anlässlich der UN-Kleinwaffenkonferenz von 2001 - erzielt haben. Kapitel 2 entwickelt den analytischen Rahmen. Kapitel 3 untersucht den Prozess, auf dem die Kleinwaffenproblematik zum internationalen Thema geworden ist. Kapitel 4 beschreibt nationale und weltweite Kleinwaffenproduktion. Kapitel 5 diskutiert die Entstehung des internationalen NGO-Netzwerks, welches sich für verstärkte Einschränkungen von Kleinwaffen eingesetzt hat. Kapitel 6 analysiert die UN-Kleinwaffenkonferenz und das Aktionsprogramm. Kapitel 7 und 8 erklären die US- und Schweizer Positionen während der UN-Konferenz und den dazugehörigen Nachfolgeaktivitäten. The thesis explores the role of NGOs, the private sector and middle-powers in solving problems related to small arms and examines the effectiveness of unconventional alliances between NGOs and countries. It explains why great powers have not acted to deal with these problems; why and how middle power-NGO partnerships have emerged to fill this void; how they have acted to change values and behavior towards small arm; and what measurable success they have had, especially during the 2001 UN Small Arms Conference. Chapter 2 develops an analytical framework to investigate these issues. Chapter 3 analyzes the process through which the small arms issue moved onto the international agenda. Chapter 4 describes national and global small arms production. Chapter 5 discusses the creation of the international NGO network that has promoted restrictions on small arms. Chapter 6 analyzes the UN Small Arms Conference and its Programme of Action. Chapters 7 and 8 explain the US and Swiss positions with regard to the UN Conference and its follow-up activities.
This chapter examines two concepts that played a significant role in shaping an ideological framework for anti-apartheid that fostered global solidarity with the aims and agendas of South African liberation movements. International solidarity against apartheid relied on the effective reconciliation of global and local issues; on the capacity of activists to imagine themselves as part of a global endeavour that was at the same time connected to local concerns and everyday experiences. This chapter argues that humanitarian ideals helped to shape a set of shared assumptions regarding racial equality and framed global responses to the development of apartheid around perceptions of ‘victimhood’ ‘crisis’ and universal needs. At the same time, global anti-apartheid was consolidated within supra-national organisations such as the UN and became a focus of the nascent discourse of human rights. Ultimately, though, global anti-apartheid was constructed in the minds of individual activists; concepts of humanitarian need and human rights were significant insofar as they prompted activists to imagine the ways in which they were implicated in the injustice of apartheid.
We define global history as an ‘approach’ that seeks to analyse the process of globalisation, which requires the assessment of different scales of integration, contacts, and exchanges that transcend and by-pass local or national borders and have an impact on societies and states. As such, global history focuses on the channels through which connections between local and global perspective are made and unmade, but, ultimately, it also takes into consideration spaces that have resisted globalisation or remained ‘unglobalised’. Therefore, our volume identifies three channels that played a role in generating and sustaining anti-apartheid across the world: the global/local spaces in which this globalisation took place, the multi-layered concept of solidarity, and multilateral or specialised cultural networks, before considering the ‘globality’ of anti-apartheid itself. Our volume includes several new case studies of anti-apartheid networks operating outside of the Western world (Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America). Still, while expanding the current understanding of the “geographies of solidarity”, this volume highlights the need to calibrate carefully any references to the movement as an embodiment of ‘the global’. Local and regional discontinuities, the divergent agendas of liberal, social democratic or socialist states, and geographical proximity to the apartheid state resulted in distinctive, sometimes contradictory, forms of anti-apartheid activity. Further research, we claim, could indeed explore the role of identities, political cultures, states and diplomatic endeavours in bringing about the end of apartheid. This necessary caution should not, however, conceal and undermine the ways in which anti-apartheid activists imagined themselves as players in a global movement. Another global history of anti-apartheid could start by assessing those individual perceptions.
This chapter analyses the relationship between the United Nations and the global mobilisation against apartheid. It suggests that we should move the perspective from the power hierarchies to democratic process of the organisation. Only this perspective will allow us to re-asses the role of the organisation in bringing apartheid to the end. The General Assembly rather than Security Council should be the main focus in this regard. Through the activity of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, an action-orientated body, who progressively expanded the scope of its responsibilities, the organisation was pivotal to the emergence of the international campaign against apartheid. From the late 1960s, it launched an information campaign on apartheid, then brought about the coordination of anti-apartheid networks before developing its own worldwide campaigns. At the same time, anti-apartheid organisations proved to be influential in the fulfilment of the aims of the UN itself. On the one hand, they translated norms into specific actions and discourse. On the other, they acted as channels through which the UN could disseminate information about apartheid, monitor the activity of member states with regard to apartheid before becoming an important element in the enforcement mechanisms. The relationship between the organisation and the non-state actors was complex and negotiated.
Since the failures of the United Nations of the early 1990s, the protection of civilians has evolved as a new norm for United Nations peacekeeping operations. However, a 2014 United Nations report found that while peacekeeping mandates often include the use of force to protect civilians, this has routinely been avoided by member states. What can account for this gap between the apparently solid normative foundations of the protection of civilians and the wide variation in implementation? This article approaches the question by highlighting normative ambiguity as a fundamental feature of international norms. Thereby, we consider implementation as a political, dynamic process where the diverging understandings that member states hold with regard to the protection of civilians norm manifest and emerge. We visualize this process in combining a critical-constructivist approach to norms with practice theories. Focusing on the practices of member states’ military advisers at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and their positions on how the protection of civilians should be implemented on the ground, we draw attention to their agency in norm implementation at an international site. Military advisers provide links between national ministries and contingents in the field, while also competing for being recognized as competent performers of appropriate implementation practices. Drawing on an interpretivist analysis of data generated through an online survey, a half-day workshop and interviews with selected delegations, the article adds to the understanding of norms in international relations while also providing empirical insights into peacekeeping effectiveness.
Human rights and social movements have long had mutually constitutive relationships with each other, but scholarship that examines this link had been relatively slow to develop. Since the late 1990s, however, social scientists in the United States have produced a growing body of literature on how social movements engage with international human rights institutions to advance their cause and form transnational alliances. This chapter examines this literature and offers future directions for this line of research that emphasize the importance of local‐level organizing in sustaining the international human rights system. It argues that institutional development in the past few decades has consolidated global instruments and empowered local actors, such that what used to be called a boomerang pattern of global institutions helping local activists with access has now become more of a “sandwich effect,” with both global and local actors operating in concert to promote human rights in the world.
The four volumes on human rights norms reviewed here investigate a puzzle introduced by quantitative studies, which shows that the expansion of commitments with human rights does not guarantee compliance with these rights in practice. Going beyond the classical opposition between constructivism and rationalism, the volumes explore the conditions and mechanisms that are likely to close this ‘compliance gap’. This essay starts by reviewing the arguments of the books before focusing on two major themes: compliance mechanisms and international denunciations. It argues that the introduction of ‘reintegrative shaming’ and ‘stigma’ to compliance research may help refine current knowledge on normative change and resistance to change.
Betts A and Orchard P (eds) (2014) Implementation and World Politics: How International Norms Change Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Friman HR (2015) The Politics of Leverage in International Relations: Name, Shame, and Sanctions. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hafner-Burton E (2013) Making Human Rights a Reality. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Risse T, Ropp SC, and Sikkink K (eds) (2013) The Persistent Power of Human Rights: From Commitment to Compliance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of rhetoric and rhetorical strategies that are implicit in the standalone sustainability reporting of the top 24 companies of the Fortune 500 Global. We adopt Bormann’s (Q J Speech 58(4):396–407, 1972) SCT framework to study the rhetorical situation and how corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) messages can be communicated to the audience (public). The SCT concepts in the sustainability reporting’s communication are subject to different types of legitimacy strategies that are used by corporations as a validity and legitimacy claim in the reports. A content analysis has been conducted and structural coding schemes have been developed based on the literature. The schemes are applied to the SCT model which recognizes the symbolic convergent processes of fantasy among communicators in a Society. The study reveals that most of the sample companies communicate fantasy type and rhetorical vision in their corporate sustainability reporting. However, the disclosure or messages are different across locations and other taxonomies of the SCT framework. This study contributes to the current CSR literature about how symbolic or fantasy understandings can be interpreted by the users. It also discusses the persuasion styles that are adopted by the companies for communication purposes. This study is the theoretical extension of the SCT. Researchers may be interested in further investigating other online communication paths, such as human rights reports and director’s reports.
The literature dealing with the international dimensions of authoritarianism suggests that regional hegemons may exploit linkage and leverage to counter democracy and diffuse authoritarian ideas and practices. However, there is a need for more research on whether authoritarian diffusion is actually happening, including the circumstances under which linkage and leverage are translated (or not) into policy convergence. This article addresses these shortcomings by examining the high-value case of Armenia – a country with growing levels of dependence on Russia following its rejection of the European Union’s Association Agreement in 2013 and accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015. Drawing on a combination of original elite and expert interviews, this article argues that although there is evidence of Russian authoritarian diffusion, there is limited evidence of policy convergence. Instead, material incentives and concerns over legitimacy continue to privilege democratic norms and make the costs of Russian-style restrictive legislation prohibitive for incumbents.
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