Contestation of the global norm against violence against women in Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to recent research on norms by highlighting the normative agency of non-Western, local recipients of global norms and the plurality of local responses to global norm diffusion. Bringing together insights from norm research and feminist scholarship, this study explores the reception of the global norm on violence against women (the anti-VAW norm) in Turkey, a Muslim majority country, over the past three decades. The study uncovers three different approaches to the global anti-VAW norm adopted by civil societal actors: adoption/compliance, contestation, and rejection. The analysis reveals that the global anti-VAW norm that seeks to unsettle established patriarchal gender hierarchies faces significant resistance in local contexts. The study thus emphasizes the importance of domestic normative frameworks that condition local responses to global norm diffusion.