Description
This paper develops a conceptual and theoretical framework for understanding the importance of historical norms in shaping and influencing contemporary world politics. Through a case study analysis of the evolution of the Group of 7 (G7) at the apex of world politics it argues that the ‘re-emergence’ of historical norms occurs when an international crisis has fractured the pre-existing framework of international order. In this situation dominant actors in world politics reach back to historical examples of past success in resolving international crises. These ‘norm revisionists’ perceive certain historical examples of the resolution of international crises to have been successful and transpose these norms onto contemporary international responses, thus ‘reviving’ a past historical norm. The development of this Norms Crisis Model contributes to the field of International Relations by situating the importance of recognising the role historical norms can play in shaping contemporary world politics, in doing so it builds upon the overlooked work of Coral Bell and Martin Wight on the role and importance of international crises fracturing the pre-existing norms of relations between states. It also contributes to the current literature on norms by challenging the idea that norms simply die away. Instead, the paper argues that norms can lie dormant until they are ‘revived’ by certain actors who shape, and use, said norms to respond to political and international crises.
