Description
Norms research in International Relations (IR) has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Scholarship that examines norms or uses them as a theoretical point of analysis can be divided into two distinct waves. The first wave focused almost exclusively on norm dynamics, and how generally liberal norms were successfully promoted by state-level actors and socialised. The second wave, with a more critical ontological outlook, is concerned with how norms are contested and resisted by actors at different levels, although such work still generally focuses on state-level actors.
This panel aims to discuss and further scholarship on uniting these two waves of research, from a variety of standpoints, to examine how norms are defined and constituted, how they are then contested, and finally, ask whether different norms at different levels are contested in distinct ways. It seeks to build on the work of Antje Wiener and her Theory of Contestation, as well as Elvira Rosert’s new Typology of Norms as key starting points to bridge these two issues and further discussions on the interplay between norm dynamics and norm contestation.
