Norm entrepreneurs in foreign policy: How Chile became an international human rights promoter

Abstract

This article aims to understand how and under what conditions new democracies develop a strong human rights identity in the realm of foreign policy. By using Chile as a case study and applying concepts from the literature on norms in international relations to foreign policy, it examines how Chile—a state emerging from military rule at the beginning of the 1990s—was able to reconceive its perceived national interests to actively incorporate human rights concerns into its foreign policy decisions. Based on extensive fieldwork, the article argues that the reformulation of Chile’s identity as a human rights promoter occurred under a specific set of conditions: the presence of a group of experts in international politics and former human rights activists in key positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the state bureaucracy. These actors acted as norm entrepreneurs, promoting and legitimizing human rights principles within the government and further institutionalizing these ideas within the state apparatus.