Small States in International Relations

9. Norm Entrepreneurs: Scandinavia’s Role in World Politics

9 NORM ENTREPRENEURS Scandinavia’s Role in World Politics CHRISTINE INGEBRITSEN Introduction Challenging the commonly held view that “the powerful do as they will, and the weak do as they must,” this article analyzes how a group of small statesinnorthernEuropeplayaroleinstrengtheningglobalcodesof appropriatebehaviorreferredtoas “norms.”Scandinaviancontributionstointernational society vary from institutionalizing norms of “sustainable development’ in global environmental policy, to the creation of a common security institution (the Conference on Security Cooperation in Europe, CSCE or OSCE), to providing a model of generous and consistent aid to the poor. Scandinavia has consistently and actively sought to influence more powerful states in establishing and strengthening global norms of cooperation. These themes are explored on the basis of case studies and sources from Scandinavia.1 Classic approaches to the study of international politics give priority to the material power, or capabilities, of states relative to other states in the world. In these analyses, scholars have tended to understate the independent influence of smaller states, such as the five northern European states of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.2 The end of the Cold War provided an opportunity to critically evaluate how we think about power in global politics because so many of our theoretical frameworks were brought into question. In recent years, scholars in international relations have been re-examining the definition of power, and have begun to focus on how states exercise influence in ways that do not conform to strictly economic and military capabilities.3 Instead ChristineIngebritsen(2002),“NormEntrepreneurs:Scandinavia’sRoleinWorld Politics.” Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of the Nordic International Studies Association 37(1): 11–23. Reprinted with permission of Sage Publications Ltd. 273 of viewingtheinternationalsystemasfragmentedandanarchic,anewwave of scholarship examines how states become socialized into an international community or society. Within this community, there are established practices , codes of conduct, and standards of acceptable behavior, referred to as “norms,” that influence state interests and identity. More theorists have begun studying the interactions between states and non-state actors, understood to comprise a global civil society (Clark et al., 1998: 1–35). Thus, ideational and normative conceptions of politics have been receiving more attention, i.e., there is a recognition of how states are not only pursuing territorial expansion, material wealth, and the maximization of power on a global scale, but are also concerned with reputation, identity, and community (Klotz, 1995; Finnemore, 1996; Katzenstein, 1996). The Role of Norms in International Politics International relations theorists have examined how norms become salient, when norms become institutionalized, and how norms shape or define state interests and identity. Not all norms are influential, or hegemonic , in international politics. Norms may co-exist, conflict, or fail to be recognized by the majority of states in the international community. Yet tracing why states ought to pursue a particular policy, or participate in international cooperation has introduced new and exciting areas for research—as long as scholars acknowledge variance in the strength, legitimacy , and salience of international norms (Cortell and Davis, 1996: 2). In a review of the norms literature published in International Organization (1998), Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink specify three stages in the life-cycle of norms. The first phase is norm emergence, the second is norm acceptance, and the final stage is norm internalization. “Norms do not emerge out of thin air: they are actively built by agents having strong opinions about appropriate or desirable behavior in their community” (1998: 896). For norms to emerge, agents (individuals, states, or societal actors)actas“normentrepreneurs,”mobilizingsupportforparticularstandards of appropriateness and persuading states to adopt new norms (pp. 897–901). For norms to “take” (phase two of the norm life-cycle), there must be evidence of a contagion or socialization eªect: states conform to the norm in the absence of domestic pressure. And finally, norms become internalized so that “conformance with the norm becomes almost automatic” or unquestioned (p. 904). This analysis extends the study of norms and traces how and why a parCHRISTINE INGEBRITSEN 274 ticular group of states have emerged as “norm entrepreneurs” in international politics.4 Not only have international norms been perpetuated and enforced by those with a preponderance of power, they also originate in a group of states that share distinct ideas about appropriate forms of domestic and international intervention. Thus, Scandinavia, a group of militarily weak, economically dependent small states, pursues “social power” by acting as a norm entrepreneur in the international community...