The Impact of Norms in International Society

The Impact of Norms in International Society

Author: Arie Marcelo Kacowicz

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13:

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This book addresses problems and puzzles associated with identifying international norms and the influence of these norms on the behavior of different states in international relations in a regional context. Arie M. Kacowicz's research traces several international norms of peace and security and examines their impact in Latin America between 1881 and 2001. He offers an original synthesis of positivist and constructivist approaches and links international relations, international law, international ethics, and Latin American diplomatic history. Kacowicz's primary argument is that a body of international norms of peace and security can be considered an independent and dynamic factor that affects the quality of international society generally and also plays a significant role in regional contexts. In developing his argument, he analyzes the origin of international norms, the impact of norms on the domestic and foreign behavior of states, and the conditions under which regional norms affect the political behavior of states. The book contains eleven empirical case-studies of the ways that international norms have affected the actions of Latin American states, ranging from the neutralization of the Magellan Straits in 1881, to the recent incorporation of Argentina, Chile, and Brazil into the Tlatelolco regime of a nuclear-weapons-free-zone in 1994, and the nuclear cooperation between Argentina and Brazil beginning in the late 1990s. These case-studies include stories of success through peaceful resolutions of conflict between states, of failure, and mixtures of both. Scholars and students of international relations and Latin America will find this book to be both a valuable analysis of international norms and a compelling diplomatic history


The Complexity of Social Norms

The Complexity of Social Norms

Author: Maria Xenitidou

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-05-28

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 3319053086

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This book explores the view that normative behaviour is part of a complex of social mechanisms, processes and narratives that are constantly shifting. From this perspective, norms are not a kind of self-contained social object or fact, but rather an interplay of many things that we label as norms when we ‘take a snapshot’ of them at a particular instant. Further, this book pursues the hypothesis that considering the dynamic aspects of these phenomena sheds new light on them. The sort of issues that this perspective opens to exploration include: Of what is this complex we call a "social norm" composed of? How do new social norms emerge and what kind of circumstances might facilitate such an appearance? How context-specific are the norms and patterns of normative behaviour that arise? How do the cognitive and the social aspects of norms interact over time? How do expectations, beliefs and individual rationality interact with social norm complexes to effect behaviour? How does our social embeddedness relate to social constraint upon behaviour? How might the socio-cognitive complexes that we call norms be usefully researched?


Social and Legal Norms

Social and Legal Norms

Author: Matthias Baier

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1317054091

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In an era where new areas of life and new problems call for normative solutions while the plurality of values in society challenge the very basis for normative solutions, this book looks at a growing field of research on the relations between social and legal norms. New technologies and social media offer new ways to communicate about normative issues and the centrality of formal law and how normativity comes about is a question for debate. This book offers empirical and theoretical research in the field of social and legal norms and will inspire future debate and research in terms of internationalization and cross-national comparative studies. It presents a consistent picture of empirical research in different social and organizational areas and will deepen the theoretical understanding regarding the interplay between social and legal norms. Including chapters written from four different aspects of normativity, the contributors argue that normativity is a result of combinations between law in books, law in action, social norms and social practice. The book uses a variety of different international examples, ranging from Sweden, Uzbekistan, Colombia and Mexico. Primarily aimed at scholars in sociology of law, socio-legal studies, law and legal theory, the book will also interest those in sociology, political science and psychology.


Social Norms

Social Norms

Author: Michael Hechter

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 2001-03-15

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 1610442806

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Social norms are rules that prescribe what people should and should not do given their social surroundings and circumstances. Norms instruct people to keep their promises, to drive on the right, or to abide by the golden rule. They are useful explanatory tools, employed to analyze phenomena as grand as international diplomacy and as mundane as the rules of the road. But our knowledge of norms is scattered across disciplines and research traditions, with no clear consensus on how the term should be used. Research on norms has focused on the content and the consequences of norms, without paying enough attention to their causes. Social Norms reaches across the disciplines of sociology, economics, game theory, and legal studies to provide a well-integrated theoretical and empirical account of how norms emerge, change, persist, or die out. Social Norms opens with a critical review of the many outstanding issues in the research on norms: When are norms simply devices to ease cooperation, and when do they carry intrinsic moral weight? Do norms evolve gradually over time or spring up spontaneously as circumstances change? The volume then turns to case studies on the birth and death of norms in a variety of contexts, from protest movements, to marriage, to mushroom collecting. The authors detail the concrete social processes, such as repeated interactions, social learning, threats and sanctions, that produce, sustain, and enforce norms. One case study explains how it can become normative for citizens to participate in political protests in times of social upheaval. Another case study examines how the norm of objectivity in American journalism emerged: Did it arise by consensus as the professional creed of the press corps, or was it imposed upon journalists by their employers? A third case study examines the emergence of the norm of national self-determination: has it diffused as an element of global culture, or was it imposed by the actions of powerful states? The book concludes with an examination of what we know of norm emergence, highlighting areas of agreement and points of contradiction between the disciplines. Norms may be useful in explaining other phenomena in society, but until we have a coherent theory of their origins we have not truly explained norms themselves. Social Norms moves us closer to a true understanding of this ubiquitous feature of social life.


Rules, Norms, and Decisions

Rules, Norms, and Decisions

Author: Friedrich V. Kratochwil

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1991-04-26

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780521409711

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This book assesses the impact of norms on decision-making. It argues that norms influence choices not by being causes for actions, but by providing reasons. Consequently it approaches the problem via an investigation of the reasoning process in which norms play a decisive role. Kratochwil argues that, depending upon the strictness the guidance norms provide in arriving at a decision, different styles of reasoning with norms can be distinguished. While the focus in this book is largely analytical, the argument is developed through the interpretation of the classic thinkers in international law (Grotius, Vattel, Pufendorf, Rousseau, Hume, Habermas).


The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse

The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse

Author: H. Wesley Perkins

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2003-02-24

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 078796459X

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The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse offers educators, counselors, and clinicians a handbook for understanding and implementing a new and highly successful alternative to traditional methods for preventing substance abuse among young people. The proven "social norms" approach outlined in this book identifies young people's dramatic misperceptions about their peer norms and promotes accurate public reporting of actual positive norms that exist in all student populations. The contributors to this important book are the originators, pioneers, and active proponents of this new approach. Many of them have successfully applied the social norms approach in secondary and higher education settings and as a result have promoted healthier lifestyles among adolescents and young adults across the United States.