Abstract
This introductory chapter summarises the path that this book undertakes in order to explore the question of everyday norm diffusion in emerging powers, and the theoretical and methodological landscape it traverses along the way. It reviews the existing literature and underscores how the embedded local-global dichotomy has not fully addressed the micro-level and the multi-dimensionality of norm diffusion. Using the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China as the site for an in-depth ethnographical analysis, I identify the ubiquitous role of stories and narratives in everyday practices of translating and appropriating norms.
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Notes
- 1.
I am aware of the limitations of the term LGBT in including the diversity and fluidity of sexual orientation and gender identity. The choice of this term instead of LGBTI, LGBTQI or SOGIE is mainly to be in line with the UN projects and meetings I attended and the more common use of this term by interview participants. I recorded this meeting in fieldwork notes (13 January 2017).
- 2.
The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Laws in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity were drafted by an expert meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2006 (with additional principles and state obligation complemented in 2017). Though not an international convention, the Principles highlight the aspects of the existing international human rights law regarding LGBT rights and have been adopted among activist organisations and cited in UN documents.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
“UNDP opens data on over 6,000 projects in transparency drive,” UNDP 2012. “UNDP tops global index for international aid transparency for second consecutive year,” UNDP 2016.
- 6.
In detail, the exclusive documents and archives I obtained formed the basis for tracing the rule of law projects and especially the internal communications in abolishing the re-education through labour system (Chap. 6), the restructuring of the UNDP China office in the early 2000s (Chaps. 6 and 7) and the phases of the project on International Poverty Reduction Centre (Chap. 7).
- 7.
In the context of norm diffusion, strictly speaking, there are three types of stories within international institutions. The first is individual stories about norms in private interactions. The second is stories about norms when being circulated internally within an organisation. The third is stories about norms beyond an institution, when it is diffusing the norms towards other collective actors. The three types of stories are enmeshed in practice, while the internal diffusion of norms is often with a clear purpose of sharing and stimulating a similar effect on norm diffusion with external actors. This chapter focuses on how norms turn into stories at the institutional level in the latter two contexts, when being told by personnel on behalf of the institutions.
- 8.
For comparison between narrative and story, see Mahoney (1999), Riessman (2008) and Frank (2010). Charles Tilly (2006), for example, distinguishes between technical accounts and stories: the former takes a narrative form but depends on expertise, while stories are non-specialised and depend on imagination.
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Lu, X. (2021). Introduction. In: Norms, Storytelling and International Institutions in China. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56707-1_1
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