Description
Book SynopsisInternational lawyers and international relations scholars recognize that international norms change over time. Practices that were once permissible and even normal - like slavery, conquest, and wartime plundering - are now prohibited by international rules. Yet though we acknowledge norm change, we are just beginning to understand how and why international rules develop in the ways that they do. Wayne Sandholtz and Kendall Stiles sketch the primary theoretical perspectives on international norm change, the legalization and transnational activist approaches, and argue that both are limited by their focus on international rules as outcomes. The authors then present their cycle theory, in which norm change is continual, a product of the constant interplay among rules, behavior, and disputes. International Norms and Cycles of Change is the natural follow-on to Prohibiting Plunder, testing the cycle theory against ten empirical cases. The cases range from piracy and conquest, to terrorism, slavery, genocide, humanitarian intervention, and the right to democracy. The key finding is that, across long stretches of time and diverse substantive areas, norm change occurs via the cycle dynamic. International Norms and Cycles of Change further advances the authors'' theoretical approach by arguing that international norms have been shaped by two main currents: sovereignty rules and liberal rules. Sovereignty rules are the necessary norms for establishing an international society of sovereign states and deal with the rights, prerogatives, and duties of states. Liberal rules are norms that emerged out of the Enlightenment and enshrine the basic value, dignity, and inherent rights of each person. Sandholtz and Stiles include five cases of sovereignty rules and five of liberal rules in order to reveal the broad cyclic pattern of international change in these two categories of rules.
Table of ContentsChapter 1. Explaining International Norm Change ; Part I: Sovereignty Rules ; Chapter 2. Banning Piracy: The State Monopoly on Military Force ; Chapter 3. The End of Conquest: Consolidating Sovereign Rights ; Chapter 4. Protecting Cultural Treasures in Wartime ; Chapter 5. Terrorism: Reinforcing States' Monopoly on Force ; Chapter 6. Extraterritoriality: Expanding Exclusive Internal Jurisdiction ; Part II: Liberal Rules ; Chapter 7. Slavery: Liberal Norms and Human Rights ; Chapter 8. Genocide ; Chapter 9. Refugees and Asylum ; Chapter 10. Humanitarian Intervention: Liberal Norms vs. Sovereignty Norms ; Chapter 11. The Right to Democracy ; Chapter 12. Conclusion
