Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction: Agency and Norm Diffusion Beyond the West

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Norm Diffusion Beyond the West

Part of the book series: Norm Research in International Relations ((NOREINRE))

  • 306 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter introduces the general objective of the book—to find out how norms transfer and what mechanisms or sources of leverage facilitate their diffusion. We intend to build on recent critical studies that have given primacy to local agency and acknowledged the possibility of norm contestation due to resistance in the receiving society to exogenous normative expectations and thus demonstrated the importance of agency and norm makers within non-Western societies. The ambitions of the book are contextualized in existing debates on nom transfers, in particular among proponents of critical social constructivism and Global IR. The introduction reviews the key concepts and assumptions regarding agency and possible sources of leverage within norm diffusion processes. Then it explains the organization of the book and introduces individual chapters, which are representing empirical case studies of norms diffused beyond the West.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abadi, A. M. (2021). Kleptocracy, strategic corruption, and defence policymaking: The impact of Najib Razak’s 1MDB scandal on Malaysia’s defence relationship with China (2015–2017). Contemporary Politics, 27, 508–527.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2004). How ideas spread: Whose norms matter? Norm localization and institutional change in Asian regionalism. International Organization, 58(2), 239–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2011). Norm subsidiarity and regional orders: Sovereignty, regionalism, and rule-making in the third world. International Studies Quarterly, 55(1), 95–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2012). Local and transnational civil society as agents of norm diffusion. Paper Presented to the Global Governance Workshop, Department of International Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2013). The R2P and norm diffusion: Towards a framework of norm circulation. Global Responsibility to Protect, 5(4), 466–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison-Reumann, L. (2017). The norm-diffusion capacity of ASEAN: Evidence and challenges. Pacific Focus, 32, 5–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, M., & Finnemore, M. (1999). The politics, power, and pathologies of international organizations. International Organization, 53(4), 699–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, S., & Feng, H. (2019). Policy diffusion as empowerment: Domestic agency and the institutional dynamics of monetary policy diffusion in China. Globalizations, 16(6), 919–933.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Josef Hirsch, M., & Dixon, J. M. (2021). Conceptualizing and assessing norm strength in International Relations. European Journal of International Relations, 27(2), 521–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066120949628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergamaschi, I., Moore, P., & Tickner, A. B. (Eds.). (2017). South-South cooperation beyond the myths. Rising donors, New aid practices? Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, T. (2017). Linked in translation: International donors and local fieldworkers as translators of global norms. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2, 606–620.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaut, J. M. (1987). Diffusionism: A uniformitarian critique. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 77(1), 30–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomfield, A. (2016). Norm antipreneurs and theorising resistance to normative change. Review of International Studies, 42(2), 310–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomfield, A., & Scott, S. V. (Eds.). (2016). Norm antipreneurs and the politics of resistance to global normative change. Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2012). From Europeanisation to diffusion: Introduction. West European Politics, 35(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, P. (2004). Bankrupt Africa: Imperialism sub-imperialism and the politics of Finance. Historical Materialism, 12(4), 145–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bräutigam, D., & Tang, X. (2014). “Going global in groups”: Structural transformation and China’s special economic zones overseas. World Development, 63, 78–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, T., Clifton, J., & Jarvis, D. (2019). Power, leverage and marketization: The diffusion of neoliberalism from North to South and back again. Globalizations, 16(6), 771–777.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, T., & Jarvis, D. (2013). Market building in Asia: Standards setting, policy diffusion, and the globalization of market norms. Journal of Asian Public Policy, 6(2), 117–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chabot, S., & Duyvendak, J. W. (2002). Globalization and transnational diffusion between social movements: Reconceptualising the dissemination of the Gandhian repertoire and the ‘coming out’ routine. Theory and Society, 31(6), 697–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial thought and historical difference. Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Checkel, J. T. (2001). Why comply? Social learning and European identity change. International Organization, 55, 553–588.

    Google Scholar 

  • Checkel, J. T. (2005). International institutions and socialization in Europe: Introduction and framework. International Organization, 59(4), 801–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delcour, L., & Tulmets, E. (Eds.). (2019). Policy transfer and norm circulation: Towards an interdisciplinary and comparative approach. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Draude, A. (2017). The agency of the governed in transfer and diffusion studies. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2, 577–587.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunford, R. (2017). Toward a decolonial global ethics. Journal of Global Ethics, 13(3), 380–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Oliveira, O. P. (2021). Handbook of policy transfer, diffusion and circulation. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Oliveira, O. P., & Pal, L. A. (2018) New frontiers and directions in policy transfer diffusion and circulation: Agents, spaces, resistance and translations. Revista de Administração Pública, 52(2), 199–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Oliveira, O. P., Gonnet, C, O., Montero, S., & da Silva Leite, C. K. (2020). Latin America and policy diffusion: From import to export. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Bruyn, T. (2019). Analysing South-South capacity building. Comparing six flagship projects of Brazil India and China in Mozambique. Forum for Development Studies, 46(2), 249–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Plessis, R. (2016). China's African infrastructure projects: A tool in reshaping global norms. South African Institute of International Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dussel, E. (2000). Europe, modernity, and Eurocentrism. Nepantla, 1(3), 465–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engelkamp, S., & Glaab, K. (2015). Writing norms: Constructivist norm research and the politics of ambiguity. Alternatives, 40(3–4), 201–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, M. (1993). Norms, culture, and world politics: Insights from sociology’s institutionalism. International Organization, 50(2), 325–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). International norm dynamics and political change. International Organization, 52, 887–917.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flint, C., & Waddoups, M. (2021). South-South cooperation or core-periphery contention? Ghanaian and Zambian perceptions of economic relations with China. Geopolitics, 26(3), 889–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, A. G. (1967). Sociology of development and underdevelopment of sociology. Catalyst, 3, 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodfellow, T., & Huang, Z. (2021). Contingent infrastructure and the dilution of ‘Chineseness’: Reframing roads and rail in Kampala and Addis Ababa. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 53(4), 655–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S. (1992). The West and The Rest: Discourse and Power. In Hall, S., & Gieben, B. (Eds.), Formations of modernity (pp. 275–33). Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hameiri, S., & Jones, L. (2015). Governing borderless threats: Non-traditional security and the politics of state transformation. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, J. (1997). Translating and resisting empire: Cultural appropriation and postcolonial studies. In B. H. Ziff & P. V. Rao (Eds.), Borrowed power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation (pp. 137–168). Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellmann, G., Herborth, B., Schlag, G., & Weber, C. (2017). The West: A securitising community? Journal of International Relations and Development, 20(2), 301–330. https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2013.9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howlett, M., Ramesh, K., & Saguin, K. (2018). Diffusion of CCTs from Latin America to Asia: the Philippine 4Ps case. Revista de Administração Pública, 52(2), 264–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingebritsen, C. (2002). Norm entrepreneurs: Scandinavia’s role in world politics. Cooperation and Conflict, 37(1), 11–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaganathan, M. M. (2019). Can constituent states influence foreign and security policy? Coalitional dynamics in India. Third World Quarterly, 40(8), 1516–1534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, L., & Zeng, J. (2019). Understanding China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’: Beyond ‘grand strategy’ to a state transformation analysis. Third World Quarterly, 40(8), 1415–1439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, E., Levin, M. L., & Hamilton, H. (1963). Traditions of research on the diffusion of innovation. American Sociological Review, 28(2), 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keck, M. E., & Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists beyond borders: Advocacy networks in international politics. Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klotz, A. (1995). Norms reconstituting interests: Global racial equality and U.S. sanctions against South Africa. International Organization, 49(3), 451–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langer, M. (2007). Revolution in Latin American criminal procedure: Diffusion of legal ideas from the periphery. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 55(4), 617–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal, J. (2011). The past is a foreign country? Acculturation theory and the anthropology of globalization. Ethnografica, 15(2), 313–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorentzen, J. (2017). Norm appropriation through policy production: Rwanda’s gender policies. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2(5), 658–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, K. P., & Jones, C. M. (2017). Breaking miles’ law: The curious case of Hillary Clinton the hawk. Foreign Policy Analysis, 13(3), 541–560.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCann, E., & Ward, K. (2011). Urban assemblages: Territories, relations, practices and power. In E. McCann & K. Ward (Eds.), Mobile urbanism: Cities and policy making in the global age. University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merry, S. E. (2006). Transnational human rights and local activism: Mapping the middle. American Anthropologist, 108(1), 38–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merschel, O., Wiener, A., Brückner, H., Datchoua-Tirvaudey, A., Riebe, L., Soareso, A., & Toledo, G. M. (2022). Global international relations. Doing theory from somewhere. CSS Working Paper Series No 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W. (1977). The effects of education as an institution. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., Boli, J., Thomas, G. M., & Ramirez, F. O. (1997). World society and the nation-state. American Journal of Sociology, 103(1), 144–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. (1985). Sweetness and power: The place of sugar in modern history. Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palerm, Á. (1980). La formación colonial mexicana y el primer sistema económico mundial. In Antropología y Marxismo. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richmond, O. P. (2010). Resistance and the post-liberal peace. Millennium—Journal of International Studies, 38(3), 665–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risse-Kappen, T. (1995). Bringing transnational relations back in: Introduction. In T. Risse-Kappen (Ed.), Bringing transnational relations back in: Non-state actors, domestic structures and international institutions. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Risse, T., & Sikkink, K. (1999). The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices: Introduction. In T. Riise, S. Ropp, & K. Sikkink (Eds.). The power of human rights: International norms and domestic change (pp. 1–38). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saguin, K., & Sha, K. (2021). Policy transfer in Asia. In Handbook of policy transfer, diffusion and circulation (pp. 317–36). Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saraiva, C., Jajamovich, G., & Silvestre, G. (2021). Circulations of planning ideas and Urban policy mobilities in Latin America’. In Handbook of policy transfer, diffusion and circulation, 278–97. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimmelfennig, F. (2008). EU political accession conditionality after the 2004 enlargement: Consistency and effectiveness. Journal of European Public Policy, 15(6), 918–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, S., & Kanai, J. M. (2021). Getting the territory right: Infrastructure-led development and the re-emergence of spatial planning strategies. Regional Studies, 55(1), 40–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder, U. C., & Chappuis, F. (2014). New perspectives on security sector reform: The role of local agency and domestic politics. International Peacekeeping, 21(2), 133–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sikkink, K. (1998). Transnational politics, international relations theory, and human rights. PS: Political Science and Politics, 31(3), 517–523.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikkink, K. (2014). Latin American countries as norm protagonists of the idea of international human rights. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 20(3), 389–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, G. E. (1928). In the beginning: The origin of civilization. Morrow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stalley, P. (2018). Norms from the periphery: Tracing the rise of the common but differentiated principle in international environmental politics. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 31(2), 141–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strang, D., & Chang, P. M. Y. (1993). The International Labor Organization and the welfare state: Institutional effects on national welfare spending, 1960–80. International Organization, 47, 235–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stubbs, R. (2009). What ever happened to the East Asian developmental state: The unfolding debate. The Pacific Review, 22(1), 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiyama, N. B. (2012). Diffusion of good government: Social sector reforms in Brazil. 1st edition. University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabak, H. (2021). Diffusionism and beyond in IR norm research. Global Society, 35(3), 327–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Binsbergen, W. M. J., van Dijk, R. A., & Gewald, J.-B. (2004). Situating globality: African agency in the appropriation of global culture: An introduction. In Situating globality: African agency in the appropriation of global culture. African Dynamics (pp. 3–54). Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Heijster, J., & DeRock, D. (2020). How GDP spread to China: The experimental diffusion of macroeconomic measurement. Review of International Political Economy, 29, 65–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Hüllen, V. (2017). Resistance to international democracy promotion in Morocco and Tunisia. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2(5), 637–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waisbich, L. T., Pomeroy, M., & Leite, I. C. (2021). Travelling across developing countries: Unpacking the role of South–South Cooperation and civil society in policy transfer. In O. Porto de Oliveira (Ed.), Handbook of policy transfer, diffusion and circulation. Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallerstein, I. (1979). The capitalist world-economy. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, A. (2004). Contested compliance: Interventions on the normative structure of world politics. European Journal ofInternational Relations, 10(2), 189–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, A. (2007). Contested meanings of norms: A research framework. Comparative European Politics, 5(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, A. (2014). A theory of contestation. Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, A. (2018). Contestation and constitution of norms in global international relations. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, E. (1982). Europe and the people without history. University of California Press. 

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. (2014). Moving policy: Global and local characters circulating bus rapid transit through South African cities. Urban Geography, 35(8), 1238–1254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. (2019). Disentangling the nexus of global intermediaries: The case of bus rapid transit. Problemy Rozwoju Miast, 62(1), 17–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlich, C. (2020). Rogue states as norm entrepreneurs. Black sheep or sheep in wolves’ clothing? Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, P. H. (1999). Diffusion in social networks (Working Papers 2). Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, J. (2019). Narrating China’s belt and road initiative. Global Policy, 10(2), 207–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziff, B. H., & Rao, P. V. (Eds.). (1997). Borrowed power: Essays on cultural appropriation. Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann, L. (2016). Same same or different? Norm diffusion between resistance, compliance, and localization in post-conflict states. International Studies Perspectives, 17(1), 98–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann, L., Deitelhoff, N., & Lesch, M. (2018). Unlocking the agency of the governed: Contestation and norm dynamics. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2, 691–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Relations and European Studies, Metropolitan University Prague, Dubečská 900/10, 100 31, Prague, Czech Republic

    Šárka Kolmašová

Authors
  1. Šárka Kolmašová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Šárka Kolmašová .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Metropolitan University Prague, Strašnice, Czech Republic

    Šárka Kolmašová

  2. Metropolitan University Prague, Strašnice, Czech Republic

    Ricardo Reboredo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kolmašová, Š. (2023). Introduction: Agency and Norm Diffusion Beyond the West. In: Kolmašová, Š., Reboredo, R. (eds) Norm Diffusion Beyond the West. Norm Research in International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25009-5_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation