Resisting Norms ? How do Actors Oppose Norm Change in International Politics?

In recent years, a considerable body of research has shown that norms influence state behavior and international politics more generally. Moreover, norms are not static, but develop and change over time. It follows from this that efforts to shape and transform norms as well as what we refer to as opposition to such efforts are important aspects of international politics. This paper?s main focus is the latter ? i.e. opposition to efforts to change international norms.Research devoted to explaining how and why international norms change is large and growing. Most of it focuses on actors seeking to create new norms and/or supposedly successful examples of progressive norm change. There is much less research about opposition to norm change ? that is, research that focuses on actors who are opposed to others? efforts to bring about change. There is also a lack of research that does not implicitly view opponents as reactionary or non-progressive. As a result, research on norms can downplay or underestimate how efforts to develop new norms or change old ones are processes characterized by conflict, disagreement about values, the exercise of power and the presence of superiority/subordination in international politics: This paper seeks to address this under-researched topic. It will do so in three ways. First, we present a theoretical framework for studying opposition to norm change. Second, we use the framework to examine opposition in two cases of norm development: the responsibility to protect and women?s human rights. Finally, the paper compares and contrasts the finding of the two cases in order to evaluate the usefulness of the framework and to problematize the meaning of success and failure as regards efforts to shape and/or change international norms. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]