Conclusion: Why Trafficking and with What Consequences?

Abstract

This book was written to address my own puzzlement about the reasons for the rise of the anti-trafficking norm and all its subsequent architecture, despite the lack of solid evidence as to the nature and extent of the problem. To answer the questions, ‘why trafficking’, ‘why now’ and ‘with what political consequences’, I used the norm lifecycle model from constructivist IR to plot the evolution of this global norm. In this concluding chapter I draw together my answers to my questions and reflections on what the case study reveals about norm formation in international politics. The answers reiterate the importance of the work of moral entrepreneurs in lobbying for norm formation and the role of norms in shaping states’ identities and interests. However they also point to the importance of pre-histories, power politics and diverse interests behind norm adoption. A central reason why anti-trafficking norms are so widely adopted relates to the potential in the norm to meet state’s interests in disciplining the transnational mobility of people in the post Cold War world. As such there are harmful political and human consequences to the internalisation of trafficking norms in international politics.