Global Norms Research Articles

Diffusion of global climate policy: National depoliticization, local repoliticization in Turkey

Although climate policy diffusion is widely studied, we know comparatively little about how these global policies and the norms that surround them are used by various political actors seeking to advance their own agendas. In this article, we focus on how global climate norms are diffused differently at national and local scales and used to repoliticize or depoliticize climate change. We focus on the case of Turkey, which carries the stark contrast of showing willingness to achieve global climate goals in the international arena but less so in domestic politics and actions. The article employs a novel methodological approach, using topic modeling and network analyses on a range of climate change–related policy documents, and interviews with high-level officers, conducted at the three jurisdictional levels in Turkey. The findings reveal that although global climate policy is diffused to both national and local governments, it is used in different ways at these levels. The national government uses climate policy diffusion to depoliticize climate change by creating ad hoc climate coalitions and limiting local climate actions to seeking external climate-related funds. Meanwhile, the metropolitan municipalities replicate nationally adopted climate goals, whereas the district municipalities domesticate ambitious climate norms and repoliticize climate change via local climate entrepreneurs and civic action. The paper contributes to understanding how climate policy diffusion and norm domestication can have different political outcomes in achieving global climate goals and argues for increased policy attention to the strategic use of climate policy diffusion for the depoliticization of climate change.

The FAIR Cookbook - the essential resource for and by FAIR doers

The notion that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, according to the FAIR Principles, has become a global norm for good data stewardship and a prerequisite for reproducibility. Nowadays, FAIR guides data policy actions and professional practices in the public and private sectors. Despite such global endorsements, however, the FAIR Principles are aspirational, remaining elusive at best, and intimidating at worst. To address the lack of practical guidance, and help with capability gaps, we developed the FAIR Cookbook, an open, online resource of hands-on recipes for “FAIR doers” in the Life Sciences. Created by researchers and data managers professionals in academia, (bio)pharmaceutical companies and information service industries, the FAIR Cookbook covers the key steps in a FAIRification journey, the levels and indicators of FAIRness, the maturity model, the technologies, the tools and the standards available, as well as the skills required, and the challenges to achieve and improve data FAIRness. Part of the ELIXIR ecosystem, and recommended by funders, the FAIR Cookbook is open to contributions of new recipes.

Norm dynamics in a post-hegemonic world: multistakeholder global governance and the end of liberal international order

This article examines the emergence, spread, and potential future of ‘multistakeholderism’ in global governance: A global norm specifying that global public problems ought to be addressed by all actors who affect or are affected by them. While some suggest that multistakeholderism may dominate twenty first century global governance, its origins are unclear, and its spread is limited globally. Furthermore, the implications of the end of Liberal International Order and the emergence of a ‘post-hegemonic’ world raises questions on the future of multistakeholderism and global norm dynamics more broadly. To address these concerns, this article advances a Gramscian approach to norm dynamics. The empirical analysis examines the origins and uneven spread of the multistakehodler norm, finding that its emergence and varying influence in global governance are intertwined with hegemonic power struggles across different policy fields. We contend that dominant actors use multistakeholderism to assimilate recalcitrant actors while advancing Northern state and corporate power, yet powerful Southern states resist the norm. In a post-hegemonic world order, the internalization of multistakeholderism is highly limited, and it is unlikely to supplant the dominant norm of interstate multilateralism. Ultimately, the article concludes by reflecting on the fraught fate of multistakeholderism and on global norms more broadly.

Global norms and local action: the campaigns to end violence against women in Africa

‘How and why do states implement international women’s rights norms?’ (p. 1). This is the crux of this important book by Peace Medie. Global Norms and Local Action finely parses the processes and conditions under which international women’s justice norms about violence against women (VAW) are adopted and implemented in post-conflict African states, in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia specifically. VAW has been central to women’s international organizing and the women’s rights agenda at the United Nations (UN) since the 1970s at least, yet we do not really know how and why some states do or do not implement the women’s justice norms that have been widely adopted by states under international pressure. In this careful and detailed multi-year study, Medie engages extensive qualitative data to theorize the conditions that enable various levels of domestic implementation of anti-VAW laws and the effectiveness of specialized criminal justice sector mechanisms and units designed for this. While the literature documents the critical roles that women’s movements play throughout the processes of norm framing, norm diffusion, and norm implementation, there is no clarity about their continued influence and relative impact on women’s justice implementation inside national political and social systems. In distilling the process of norm implementation into three component stages and analysing the relative roles of international organizations, domestic women’s movements, and political and institutional factors at each of these stages, Medie illuminates the ‘black box’ of domestic gender policy execution inside post-conflict states and other kinds of transitional political systems.

Women and Peace Negotiations: Looking Forward, Looking Back

Abstract Despite the global norm favoring women’s participation in peace negotiations, women continue to face constraints in accessing, influencing, and benefitting from peace settlements. This special issue of International Negotiation lays the groundwork for a future research agenda, calling for attention to gender-based analysis; mixed-method research designs, comparative case studies, and attention to “negative” cases; more examination of the relationship between gender-inclusivity at peace talks and the subsequent conditions for women; and policy recommendations for international actors. This introduction to the issue provides a review of the literature on women and peace negotiations, offers an overview of the issue’s six articles, and proposes a future research agenda.

Guarding Against Catastrophic Biological Risks: Preventing State Biological Weapon Development and Use by Shaping Intentions.

Guarding Against Catastrophic Biological Risks: Preventing State Biological Weapon Development and Use by Shaping Intentions.

Explaining transgender policy change: Policy momentum in Canada and Australia

AbstractWestern democracies are experiencing a widespread shift towards greater recognition of transgender rights in public policy, yet the timing of change differs across states. To explain this variation, I present a novel theoretical framework called “policy momentum.” Unlike existing work on policy diffusion, which typically emphasizes domestic or international processes, I theorize how the combined pressure from each level creates the conditions for policy change to occur. Empirically, I contrast the creation of national human rights policies to protect transgender individuals in Canada (2017) and Australia (2013). Using process‐tracing and within‐case analyses, and drawing on elite interviews, primary documents, and Hansard records, I demonstrate the decisive interaction of subnational legislative changes with an emerging global norm to produce transgender policy change. This paper thus contributes to our understanding of LGBTQ+ public policy while also providing a framework for explaining the conditions for cross‐national policy change more broadly.

The evolution of global cybersecurity norms in the digital age: A longitudinal study of the cybersecurity norm development process

ABSTRACT Developing cybersecurity norms and global normative cybersecurity behaviors play an increasingly critical role in global cybersecurity governance. This paper takes a longitudinal approach to analyze cybersecurity norms development activities during the period 1997–2020. A total of 206 individual cases were collected, and 233 individual cybersecurity norms were identified and compiled into 25 subject categories. Categorizing the norm subjects alongside the frequency of cases and norms identified each year allowed for a longitudinal view of cyber norm activities and the evolution in developments over these years. This examination enables us to categorize cybersecurity norms, including their dynamic focus and evolution patterns. By studying those viewed as “successful,” we gain guidance regarding the construction of global cybersecurity governance in the digital age.

Variations of Customary Tenure, Chiefly Power, and Global Norms for Responsible Land Investments in Sierra Leone

Abstract In response to debates around land grabbing, the international community has increasingly developed and promoted global governance norms and guidelines for more responsible land investments. This concern on the part of the international community has particularly taken hold in Sierra Leone—in a post-war context, in which international donor agencies are already steering much of the country’s politics. Yet, despite the enormous influence of international guidelines and the actors promoting their use, there is a spatial variation in the conformity to and effectiveness of such norms in cases of land investments. While some projects seem to resemble ‘showcases’ for their exemplary use, these guidelines seem to be absent in other projects. This article analyses the political economy of customary land tenure, land investments, and international ‘soft laws’ in Sierra Leone. Based on 6 months of fieldwork in Sierra Leone in 2019, I compare several cases of large-scale land investments. I argue that there are important variations in the customary tenure system in the degree to which political authority over land is centralized in the authority of the paramount chief or is devolved to landholding families. This, I suggest, holds important implications for the uptake of global norms for ‘responsible’ investments.

Evaluating Europe's push to enact AI regulations: how will this influence global norms?

ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (AI) policy, innovation, and practice are moving ahead in rapid fashion. There is a growing mismatch between technological innovations in AI, which are advancing at a rapid rate, and normative and regulatory frameworks, which are lagging, particularly when it comes to protecting democratic values and human rights principles. National governments and multilateral institutions are attempting to catch up. At least 175 countries, firms and other organizations have produced documents listing ethical principles for AI. These efforts have proceeded in a somewhat fragmented manner, yet there are emerging signs of consolidation as the United States, Europe, and other countries begin to coalesce around shared principles. Europe, in particular, has raced ahead to draft comprehensive legislation, the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), to oversee these technologies and systems. What has motivated the European Union to pursue this approach? And how will this effort influence AI norms globally? This paper describes how Europe’s AI norm-building process represents an effort to ensure EU priorities are reflected in the AI governance landscape. Europe’s approach faces uncertainty. While it is likely that the AIA will meaningfully influence global AI norms, several factors may hinder its global diffusion and adoption.

Human Rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States: Prospects for Positive Change

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have received criticism for being slow to conform to global human rights norms. They have lagged in signing global treaties and covenants and have not enforced many of the laws they have on the books. However, for three key reasons, hope exists that continued engagement with these countries on human rights issues may lead to progress. First, despite a lack of progress in some areas, such as political and civil rights, the region has made great progress overall in just a few decades, especially regarding economic and social rights. Second, GCC countries have begun incorporating human rights language into domestic legislation and their own local discourse. Third, economic and social changes are on the horizon for the region in the medium to long term, which may lead to political changes in the next few decades.

Examining Barriers to Entry: Disparate Gender Representation in Cybersecurity Within Sub-Saharan Africa

Globally, women are underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this underrepresentation is even more prevalent, as fewer women pursue STEM careers in SSA when compared to the global norm. Cybersecurity is a critical subsection of STEM; one that is widely accepted as a field with enormous growth potential, yet only a small proportion of these jobs belong to women. Despite attempts to narrow the gender gap in cybersecurity, persistent factors still contribute to this disparity. Within this field, developing countries struggle with the same issues that impact their more developed counterparts. Issues that impact both SSA and the global participation of women in cyber-security include lacking representation and awareness as well as retention problems. Further, issues such as harassment, gender bias and the idea that cybersecurity is a “man’s world” are also contributing factors. A slew of other factors is also at play in SSA; this includes issues of low school attendance by girls, restricted educational opportunities, and other systemic challenges. Girls and women are less likely to complete lower and secondary education, which has a ripple effect – fewer women reach higher education in SSA when compared to global trends. Generally, higher or tertiary education is necessary to join the cybersecurity workforce. Research exploring the challenges women in SSA face when trying to enter the cybersecurity field is limited. This paper presents an overview of the most persistent challenges faced in SSA and globally. It highlights the current skill shortage in the cybersecurity field that is exasperated by global challenges, including issues unique to the region. Educational pathways available to girls and women are explored, as well as the issues leading to widespread skill shortages within SSA. Programs striving to increase the participation of women in cybersecurity are discussed. Lastly, some suggestions to remediate this pervasive issue are also provided.

Academic identity at the intersection of global scientific communities and national science policies: societal impact in the UK and Netherlands

ABSTRACT This article investigates attitudes to societal impact of research as an entry point into understanding academic identities. Conceptually, we position academic identity at the intersection of global scientific fields and national science policies. We argue that the degree of alignment or misalignment between the two can create coherent academic identities, or on the contrary, tensions in academics’ identity. Empirically, we use the disciplines of philosophy and anthropology as proxies for scientific fields in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). The study is based on sixteen semi-structured interviews with mid-career philosophers and anthropologists in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and an analysis of how societal impact is positioned in the two national evaluation systems. We conclude that ‘coercive’ national impact policies (like the one in the UK) are less likely to be aligned with global disciplinary norms in the SSH and therefore create tensions in academic identity; these can undermine academics’ agency and be counterproductive in terms of reaching policy objectives. By contrast, ‘enabling’ national impact policies (like the one in the Netherlands) are conducive to more coherent academic identities that are better aligned with disciplinary notions of societal impact. By discussing academic identities in a comparative context, the study highlights the struggles of reconciling disciplinary and national notions of societal impact. To realise the potential societal impact of academic research, we recommend that impact is integrated into a wider ecosystem of interactions where policy-driven notions are aligned with disciplinary norms and values.

Countering the Financing of Terrorists’ Salaries

The article aims to analyze and evaluate current trends in the global efforts to suppress a unique field in the financing of terrorism – terrorist salaries. The study seeks to cast new light on the origins and implications of the terrorism economy that deals with salaries, rewards, and other benefits paid to terrorists. The purpose of the new policy to suppress terrorist salaries is to halt terrorism by disrupting the channels of funding and diminishing the economic viability of terrorist activity. The policy to suppress terrorist salaries include diverse consequences: Humanitarian, security, legal, and economic interests, which are contradictory and require a balance between them. The article argues that despite objections, the idea to suppress terrorists’ salaries is established in the global community norms, including the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terror, decisions of the Security Council, and domestic laws of Western countries. These global efforts are a turning point in the current strategies for counter-terrorism financing. This development shows a growing acceptance of the need for new and diverse tools to counter terror financing.

The new dynamics between the state, local ideals, and (anti-)corruption: an ethnographic study of the ethical practices of China's pharmaceutical industry

ABSTRACT The infamous GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) bribery case of 2013 led to the emergence of compliance management as a local strategic response to ensuring compliance with regulations in the transnational pharmaceutical corporations within China. However, China's pharmaceutical industry has a long history of practicing the corrupt customs of “drug-incentivizing medicine” (yiyao buyi) and “guanxi-based sales” (guanxi xiaoshou), which are, obviously, at odds with the highest ethical standards for compliance management as well as the principle of the anti-corruption campaign of the current Chinese administration. Based upon an in-depth ethnographic work from China's pharmaceutical industry, this article proposes a new framework to examine the complicated dynamics of interaction between the state's anti-corruption policy, corrupt long-standing customary industrial practices, local cultural practice, and global compliance management norms in post-socialist spaces. Different from some studies that focus on the resistance to global norms by local forces, this study suggests a reverse direction and focuses on the positive reconstruction of the old socialist ideals and corrupt practices by modern disciplinary institutions with the capitalist work ethic in the Chinese workplace.

Human Rights Pluralistic Universality: A Bridge Between Global Norms and Cultural Diversity

ABSTRACT International law in general and human rights norms specifically are experiencing a wave of criticism from various fronts. One aspect of this is seen in the continuous debate on human rights universality and cultural diversity: there is growing discontent around tensions between global standards and local particularities. This article proposes to rediscover the pluralistic universality envisaged by the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 as an interpretative tool that can provide guidance for this dilemma. The declaration’s drafters understood universality as a set of commonly shared values that are essential for the respect of human dignity, but the content of which is open-ended and flexible enough to entertain a variety of notions of human flourishment. The drafters determined which concepts enjoyed universal acceptability and which did not by looking at a horizontal cross-cultural agreement, intercultural dialogue, and accepting reasonable disagreement on controversial subjects. The article proposes that their concept of universality and method for determining global standards could be used to address the tensions between the international and national spheres and enhance the legitimacy of the human rights system.

Association between different behavioral factors and dental caries among children attending the dental clinics in a sample from Saudi Arabia

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the association between different behavioral factors and the prevalence of dental caries among children attending the dental clinic in a sample from the Hail and Tabuk regions, Saudi Arabia.MethodA cross-sectional study design was employed to determine the burden of dental caries in teeth and key associated factors among 6-12-year-old children who attended different dental clinics. The data was recruited from Hail and Tabuk districts, Saudi Arabia. The study included only Saudi nationals, whose parents could fill out the self-administered questionnaire and provide informed consent for their child’s dental examination at clinics. Children underwent a simple dental examination based on the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria for oral health surveys. The Decayed, Missed, Filled Tooth (DMFT) index developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was utilized to assess dental caries. Descriptive statistics were performed to describe categorical variables. The mean DMFT was compared between girls’ and boys’ and the children from Hail and Tabuk regions using the Mann-Whitney U-test. The chi-square test was used to examine the association between different behavioral factors and the prevalence of dental caries.ResultsOf the total 399 children examined, 203 (50.9%) were boys, whilst 196 (49.1%) were girls. The prevalence of dental caries was correlated with the cleaning tool, parental educational level, dental visits, and sugar consumption (p < 0.05). However, brushing frequency failed to demonstrate a correlation with the prevalence of dental caries (p > 0.05). The total mean DMFT for the studied sample was 7.81 (SD ± 1.9). Caries’ experience was made up mainly of decayed teeth. Decayed teeth made up an average of 3.30 (SD ± 1.07). The total mean of missing and filling teeth was 2.51 (SD ± 0.99) and 1.99 (SD ± 1.26) respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean DMFT and gender or between Hail and Tabuk (p < 0.05).ConclusionSaudi Arabia continues to have a high prevalence of dental caries compared to the global norm.

Emergent patterns in global health diplomacy: a network analysis of the resolutions adopted by the World Health Assembly from 1948 to 2022

From a complexity perspective on governance, multilateral diplomacy is based on interactions between people, ideas, norms, policies and institutions. This article uses a computer-assisted methodology to better understand governance systems...

“Out in the Streets”

Abstract This article provides a socio-anthropological portrayal of the hip-hop narrational mosaics in Greece through the intertemporal exploration of two hip-hop scenes: the rap scene and the hip-hop dance scene. It explores the gray and contested zones of a local hip-hop culture—which reflect on global hip-hop imageries, norms, and antinomies–through permutations and manifestations of difference, hybridization and subcultural capital, and their subversive intersections with race, class, gender, and affective states in contemporary Greece in landscapes of crisis. Drawing on content analysis of rap lyrics and ethnographic fieldwork on rap and hip-hop dance performativities, resonating contemporary Greek society’s precarities, traumas, and ethics, this article explains why hip-hop and street cultures are so popular today in Greece. Furthermore, it highlights their global dynamics and their present and future potential as an empowering and emancipatory space for young generations.

북한의 지속가능발전목표 이행에 관한 연구

Purpose: Based on the compliance theory and the institutionalist approach, this article is intended to assess North Korea’s compliance levels of No Poverty goal under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).&#x0D; Originality: Although SDGs stands for advanced global norms, its application constitutes significant challenges for the developing world. For the better achievement of SDG within the global community, this paper highlights country-specific limitations and opportunities for SDG compliance and implementation through the case of North Korea.&#x0D; Methodology: For the analysis, this study conducts content analysis on a range of documents and information released by the North Korean government, including the Voluntary National Review (2021) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2018). In order to evaluate the direct and indirect availability of poverty data (including estimates), relevant academic works and reports are also reviewed.&#x0D; Result: To assess and explain North Korea’s weak compliance, this study does not stick to the issue of statistical capacity only. For incorporating the wider institutional contexts, the localization of the global discourse on poverty and the internal structure for SDG implementation are also highlighted. Despite the country’s willingness, due to the communist tradition as well as regime justification, we interpret that the country still shows strategic but roundabout behavior in adopting the global concept of poverty.&#x0D; Conclusion and Implication: This study concludes with recommendations that can help North Korea improve its compliance with the SDG.