Norm Research in International Relations

This book examines the implementation of, the spread of, and compliance with emerging global norms. Based on empirical country studies on the implementation of transparency norms defined by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) – a multi-stakeholder process seeking to promote global standards for the transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources –, it investigates the various factors and motivations affecting actors with regard to norm compliance. The book demonstrates that compliance with global norms depends on a combination of various factors, including motivations and conditions for introducing norms into the domestic political space; local actors’ level of commitment to the norm; and their capacity for norm compliance. Given its scope, the book will appeal to all international relations scholars interested in processes of norm localisation, compliance, and contestation. 

Grappling specifically with the norm of sovereignty as responsibility, the book seeks to advance a critical constructivist understanding of norm development in international society, as opposed to the conventional – or liberal – constructivist (mis)understanding that still dominates the debate. Against this backdrop, the book delves into the institutionalization of sovereignty as responsibility within the lived practice of the International Criminal Court (ICC). More to the point, the proposed exploration intends to revive questions about the power-laden nature of the normative fabric of international society, its dis-symmetries, and its outright hierarchies, in order to devise an original framework to operationalize research on how – institutional – practice impinges on norm development. To this end, the book resorts to an original creole vocabulary, which combines the contributions of post-positivist constructivist scholars with the legacy of key post-modernist thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, as well as critical approaches to International (Criminal) Law and Post-Colonial Studies. The book will appeal to scholars of international relations and international law, in addition to critical scholars more broadly, as well as to practitioners in the fields of human rights and international justice interested in normative theory and the implementation and contestation of international social norms.

This book explores norm diffusion in non-Western contexts. It analyzes how norms transfer and what mechanisms or sources of leverage facilitate their diffusion. The individual chapters follow an interdisciplinary framework that analyzes social norms beyond the theoretical tradition of international relations, and focus on particular cases of diffusion—both successful and unsuccessful—across the non-Western world. In this way, the book challenges existing perspectives and advances critical norm research that diversifies the agency of norm entrepreneurs beyond processes of norm localization. It makes a twofold contribution—by deepening our theoretical understanding of norms and their dynamics and by broadening the geographical scope of norms research.

This book analyses the complex dynamics of international norm contestation and explores how norms adapt and withstand challenges in different settings. Examining the interplay between various types of contestation, norm robustness, and the resilience of norm clusters, it sheds light on what the authors define as ‘contestation in prism’. The book thus presents norm contestation as a multifaceted process with far-reaching implications. 

In this context, it further discusses different conceptions of contestation, ranging from reactive vs. proactive contestation and applicatory vs. validity contestation, to inadvertent, i.e. interpretive vs. deliberate contestation. It then develops a theoretical model that links contestation ‘in prism’ with studies of norm clusters, or norms that are embedded in broader normative structures and interwoven with other normative meanings. Based on a strong theoretical framing, the book presents in-depth analyses of norm contestation in areas such as regional organizations, nuclear non-proliferation, norms relating to atrocities, and international criminal law. 

Offering multifaceted perspectives on norm evolutions and their implications, this contribution will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of international relations and related disciplines, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of contestation and norm cluster resiliency.