Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T22:02:47.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

What made the modern world hang together: socialisation or stigmatisation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2014

Ayşe Zarakol*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), Cambridge, United Kingdom

Abstract

Contrary to what is often assumed, norm-internalisation does not always lead to compliance. Normative judgements may be simultaneously internalised and outwardly rejected. Non-compliance is at times a result of hyper-awareness of the particular origin of norms, rather than an unwillingness of the would-be-recipients to do ‘good’ deeds, or their inability to understand what is ‘good’. Such is often the case for non-Western states, as I demonstrate in this article by utilising the sociological concepts of stigma and stigmatisation. In its inability to acknowledge this dynamic, which has its roots in the colonial past of the international order, the constructivist model of norm-diffusion commits two errors. On the one hand, it falls short as a causal explanation, conflating internalisation with socialisation, and socialisation with compliance. On the other hand, it reproduces existing hierarchies in the international system, treating only non-compliance as endogenously driven, but compliance as a result of external stimuli. As there is a great deal of correlation between non-compliance and political geography, such a depiction, coupled with the fact that most norms under scrutiny are ‘good’ norms, once again casts non-Western states as having agency only when they commit ‘bad’ deeds.

Type
Forum: Interrogating the use of norms in international relations: postcolonial perspectives
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharya, Amitav. 2004. “How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism.” International Organization 58(2):239275.Google Scholar
Acharya, A 2009. Whose Ideas Matter: Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Acharya, A 2011. “Norm Subsidiarity and Regional Orders: Sovereignty, Regionalism, and Rule-Making in the Third World.” International Studies Quarterly 55:95123.Google Scholar
Adler-Nissen, Rebecca. 2014. “Stigma Management in International Relations: Transgressive Identities, Norms and Order in International Society.” International Organization 68(1):143176.Google Scholar
Alderson, Kai. 2001. “Making Sense of State Socialisation.” Review of International Studies 27(3):415433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1986. “An Evolutionary Approach to the Study of Norms.” American Political Science Review 80:10951111.Google Scholar
Barkin, Samuel. 2003. “Realist Constructivism.” International Studies Review 5(3):325342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barkin, S 2010. Realist Constructivism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael. 2002. “Radical Chic? Subaltern Realism: A Rejoinder.” International Studies Review 4(3):4962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartelson, Jens. 2009. Visions of World Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1991. Modernity and Ambivalence. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Benedict, Ruth. 2005. [1946] The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. New York: Mariner Books.Google Scholar
Bhabha, Homi. 2004. The Location of Culture. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Branch, Jordan. 2011. “Mapping the Sovereign State: Technology, Authority, and Systemic Change.” International Organization 65(1):136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branch, Jordan 2012. “‘Colonial Reflection’ and Territoriality: The Peripheral Origins of Sovereign Statehood.” European Journal of International Relations 18(2):277292.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.” Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bowden, Brett. 2009. The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Buruma, I 2003. Inventing Japan. New York: The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Carr, Edward H. 1939. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–39. London, UK: MacMillan and Co.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha. 1986. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha 1993. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha 2010. Empire and Nation: Selected Essays. New York City, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha 2012. The Black Hole of Empire: History of a Global Practice of Power. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Checkel, J. 1999. “Norms, Institutions and National Identity.” International Studies Quarterly 43:83114.Google Scholar
Checkel, J 2003. “‘Going Native’ in Europe? Theorizing Social Interaction in European Institutions.” Comparative Political Studies 36(1–2):209231.Google Scholar
Checkel, J 2005. “International Institutions and Socialisation in Europe: Introduction and Framework.” International Organization 59(4):801826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cottrell, Patrick. 2009. “Legitimacy and Institutional Replacement: The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and the Emergence of the Mine Ban Treaty.” International Organization 63:217248.Google Scholar
Crossley, Nick. 2001. “The Phenomenological Habitus and its Construction.” Theory and Society 30(1):81120.Google Scholar
Drumbl, Mark. 2012. Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Elias, Norbert. 1996. [1989]. The Germans. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Elias, N., and Scotson, J.L.. 1994. [1965]. The Established and Outsiders. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Epstein, Charlotte. 2012. “Stop Telling Us How to Behave: Socialisation, or Infantilization?International Studies Perspectives 13(2):135145.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha. 1996. National Interests in International Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Finnemore, M 2003. The Purpose of Intervention. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha, and Sikkink, K.. 1998. “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change.” International Organization 52(4):887917.Google Scholar
Gheciu, Alexandra. 2005. “Security Institutions as Agents of Socialisation? NATO and the ‘New Europe’.” International Organization 59(4):9731012.Google Scholar
Gillies, Alexandra. 2010. “Reputational Concerns and the Emergence of Oil Sector Transparency as an International Norm.” International Studies Quarterly 54:103126.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Gong, Gerrit. 1984. The Standard of ‘Civilisation’ in International Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Greenhill, Brian. 2010. “The Company You Keep: International Socialisation and the Diffusion of Human Rights Norms.” International Studies Quarterly 54:127145.Google Scholar
Hobson, John M. 2012. The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hobson, John M., and Sharman, Jason C.. 2005. “The Enduring Place of Hierarchy in World Politics: Tracing the Social Logics of Hierarchy and Political Change.” European Journal of International Relations 11(1):6398.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Liesbet. 2005. “Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialisation: A Case Study of the European Commission.” International Organization 59(4):861898.Google Scholar
Ikenberry, John G. 2001. After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikenberry, John G., and Kupchan, Charles A.. 2001. “Socialisation and Hegemonic Power.” International Organization 44(3):487515.Google Scholar
Jackson, Patrick T., and Nexon, Daniel H.. 2004. “Constructivist Realism or Realist-Constructivism?.” International Studies Review 6(2):337341.Google Scholar
Johnston, Alistair Ian. 1995. “Thinking About Strategic Culture.” International Security 19(4):3264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, AI 2005. “Conclusions and Extensions: Toward Mid-Range Theorizing and Beyond Europe.” International Organization 59:10131044.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, Peter. 1996. The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kayaoğlu, Turan. 2010. “Westphalian Eurocentricism in International Relations Theory.” International Studies Review 12:193217.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret, and Sikkink, K.. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Keene, Edward. 2002. Beyond Anarchical Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
King, Anthony. 2000. “Thinking with Bourdieu Against Bourdieu: A ‘Practical’ Critique of Habitus.” Sociological Theory 18(3):417433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1983. International Regimes. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kupchan, Charles A. 2010. How Enemies Become Friends: Sources of Stable Peace. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, Jeffrey. 2005. “The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialisation and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union.” International Organization 59(4):937991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCargo, Duncan, and Zarakol, Ayşe. 2012. “Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins.” Journal of Democracy 23(3):7179.Google Scholar
McKeown, Ryder. 2009. “Norm Regress: US Revisionism and the Slow Death of the Torture Norm.” International Relations 23(1):525.Google Scholar
Mignolo, Walter. 2011. The Darker Side of Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Timothy. 1988. Colonising Egypt. Berkeley, CA: University of California-Berkeley Press.Google Scholar
Neale, Fredrick A. 1852. Narrative of a Residence at the Capital of the Kingdom of Siam. London: Office of the National Illustrated Library.Google Scholar
Oguma, Eiji. 2002. A Genealogy of ‘Japanese’ Self-Images, Translated by David Askew. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.Google Scholar
Oye, Kenneth. 1986. Cooperation Under Anarchy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Plamenatz, John. 1976. “Two Types of Nationalism.” In Nationalism: The Nature and Evolution of an Idea, edited by E. Kamenka, 2237. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Percy, Sarah. 2007. “Mercenaries: Strong Norm, Weak Law.” International Organization 61(2):367397.Google Scholar
Rao, Rahul. 2010. Third World Protest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Risse, Thomas. 2000. “‘Let’s Argue!’ Communicative Action in World Politics.” International Organization 54(1):139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas, and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1999. “The Socialisation of Human Rights Norms into Domestic Practices: Introduction.” In The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, edited by T. Risse, S. Ropp, and K. Sikkink, 138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Santa-Cruz, Arturo. 2005. “Constitutional Structures, Sovereignty, and the Emergence of Norms: The Case of International Election Monitoring.” International Organization 59(3):663693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, Gerry. 2004. Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Steele, Brent. 2007. “Liberal-Idealism: A Constructivist Critique.” International Studies Review 9:2342.Google Scholar
Sterling-Folker, Jennifer. 2000. “Competing Paradigms or Birds of a Feather? Constructivism and Neoliberal Institutionalism Compared.” International Studies Quarterly 44(1):417433.Google Scholar
Subotic, Jelena, and Zarakol, Ayşe. 2013. “Cultural Intimacy in International Relations.” European Journal of International Relations 19(4):915938.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Shogo. 2009. Civilization and Empire: China and Japan’s Encounter with European International Society. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tanaka, Stefan. 1993. Japan’s Orient: Rendering Pasts into History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Thongchai, Winichakul. 1994. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Towns, Ann. 2007. Women and States: Norms and Hierarchies in International Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Zürn, Michael, and Checkel, Jeffrey. 2005. “Getting Socialized to Build Bridges: Constructivism and Rationalism, Europe and the Nation-State.” International Organization 59(4):10451079.Google Scholar
Zarakol, Ayşe. 2010. “Ontological Insecurity and State Denial of Historical Crimes: Turkey and Japan.” International Relations 24(1):323.Google Scholar
Zarakol, A 2011. After Defeat: How the East Learned to Live with the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zarakol, A 2013. “Revisiting Second Image Reversed: Lessons from Turkey and Thailand.” International Studies Quarterly 50(1):150162.Google Scholar
Zarakol, A 2014. “Social Standing of Constructivism within International Relations.” Paper presented at the Third Generation of Constructivism Workshop, Weimar, Germany, January 28–31.Google Scholar