Unlocking the agency of the governed: contestation and norm dynamics. Issue 5 (3rd September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zimmermann, Lisbeth; Deitelhoff, Nicole; Lesch, Max
• Is Part Of: Third world thematics. Volume 2:Issue 5(2017)
• Page Start: 691
• Page End: 708
• Publication Date: 2017-09-03
• Subjects: Norm research -- norm translation -- normativity -- contestation -- agency -- practice; Developing countries -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Globalization -- Periodicals; 338.90091724
• DOI: 10.1080/23802014.2017.1396912
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2379-9978

Abstract

Abstract: International Relations (IR) research on the translation and appropriation of international norms emphasises both the role of local agency and the fundamental malleability of norms. However, these perspectives cannot unlock the full agency of the governed as they limit agents' effects on norms to incremental changes at the margins. We suggest transcending the distinction between the local and the global by taking practices of contestation as constitutive for normative agency. In such a perspective, we can differentiate types of contestatory practices and analyse how they affect norms.