Norms without the great powers : international law and changing social standards in world politics

288 Pages·2017·0.3 MB·English

by  Bower

NORMS WITHOUT THE GREAT POWERS

Norms without the
Great Powers
International Law and Changing Social
Standards in World Politics
ADAM BOWER
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,12/11/2016,SPi
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP,
UnitedKingdom
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof
OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries
©AdamBower2017
Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted
FirstEditionpublishedin2017
Impression:1
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin
aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe
priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted
bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics
rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe
aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe
addressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform
andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress
198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016945278
ISBN 978–0–19–878987–1
PrintedinGreatBritainby
ClaysLtd,StIvesplc
LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand
forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials
containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork.
For Magdalena:
I love you ~ Ti amo ~ Kocham Cię

Preface
This book is about the prospects for global governance without the great
powers. More specifically, it concerns the consequences of pursuing inter-
national legal rules and more broadly, norms, in situations where the most
powerful states in the international system do not support the rule-making
efforts. The question of whether the international community should seek to
developnewinternationalstandardswithoutthebuy-inofgloballeaderslike
the United States and China is a matter of no small importance. Indeed,
despite the renewed talk of multilateralism that has characterized the
Obama presidency, the United States retains an ambivalent relationship
toward international institutions, whether concerning the laws of war (‘tar-
geted killing’ programmes in the War on Terror), human rights (detention
and treatment of terrorist suspects), or global climate change and environ-
mentalprotectiontonamebutafewprominentexamples.Yettheseandother
subjects of global import donot recedein theface of resistance from leading
states—ifanything,theyonlybecomemoreintractableandchallenging.Hence
theneedforseriousthinkingconcerningwhenandhowinternationalcooper-
ationmightbepossible—anddesirable—undersuchtestingconditions.
YetInternationalRelationsasascholarlydisciplinehascomparativelylittle
directly to say about these questions, since prominent theories assume that
successfulmultilateralinitiativesrequirethestewardshipoftheleadingstates.
This notion of a special role—and commensurate responsibilities—for great
powers also resonates with policymakers and the general public. For these
reasons, the absence of the United States and other great powers from inter-
nationalinstitutionsdeservesdetailedanalysis.
This book aims to evaluate the promise, and limits, of multilateralism
without the great powers in light of its purported costs. My interest in this
topicdatesbacktothecommencementofmydoctoralstudies,andaseriesof
conversations with my subsequent dissertation supervisor Richard Price.
Dick’s observation, articulated in his 2004 International Journal article titled
‘Hegemony and Multilateralism’, was that actors seeking to generate new
institutions contrary to the wishes of dominant states face a strategic choice
with three principal options: (a) proceed despite great power opposition,
resulting in a stronger agreement but without key participants (in the hopes
thatmembershipcanbeexpandedlater);(b)grantconcessionstogreatpower
demands, leading to a weaker treaty but with broader initial buy-in; or (c)
abandon formal multilateralism altogether, and instead seek non-binding
understandingsornothingatall.Acorollaryofthiscalculationisthequestion:
underwhatcircumstancesisaparticularapproachadvisable?
viii Preface
NormswithouttheGreatPowersseekstocontributetothedebateoverthe
future of multilateralism and global governance by providing an in-depth
assessment of two archetypal examples of the first of these strategic options—
thatis,creatingglobalinstitutionswithoutgreatpowersupport.Todosothe
book seeks to answer two fundamental questions, one of which is primarily
theoretical in nature, the other empirical. First, how might treaties generate
broadly influential norms without the military, economic, and diplomatic
resources frequently associated with predominantly powerful states? Second,
hasthispotentialbeenrealizedinpractice:havetheAntipersonnelMineBan
TreatyandInternationalCriminalCourtengenderednewsocialexpectations
andpolicychangeinlinewiththeircoreobligations,andwhatvariancecanbe
observedbetweenthetreatiesandacrossthesystemofstates?Aswillbecome
apparent,thisbooktakesasitscentralfocusthe‘sowhat?’—or‘whatnext?’—
problem that follows from the successful negotiation of a multilateral treaty.
Thecreationofabindinglegalagreementthusservesasthestartingpointfor
this study, which attends instead to the subsequent experience of implemen-
tationandactorchange.
Initsapplicationofacademicconcernsfortheoryandempiricalevidenceto
practical questions of contemporary global governance, it is hoped that this
book will appeal to a wide range of readers. International Relations scholars
will, I believe, regard this a worthy subject of inquiry and a productive
analytical approach, for reasons I laid out briefly above and elaborate upon
in the chapters to come. It is also my sincere wish that diplomats and civil
society practitioners involved in disarmament, international criminal justice,
and human rights will find much that resonates with their own experiences
and assessments, and that theevaluation of the cases willcontribute in some
smallwaytofuturediscussionsconcerningtheprospectsforadditionalnorm-
buildingin timesof greatpowerambivalence.Finally,Ihopethatthecentral
concerns of this book will equally appeal to those in the wider public who
retainacommitmenttothepursuitofan(evenmodestly)lessviolentworld.
Even a book-length study must necessarily exclude important lines of
inquiry, and the present work is no exception. Readers will notice that the
proceeding analysis is primarily directed towards the experiences of states in
adopting,contesting,andimplementingthetreatiesandassociatednormsthat
aretheobjectofthisstudy.Forthisreason,otheractorsofconsequencereceive
comparatively less attention. Any comprehensive assessment of legal and
normative developments in world politics would have to encompass the
increasingly important roles played by non-state entities, a list that would
include non-state armed groups; transnational civil society actors; intergov-
ernmental organizations, secretariats, and bureaucracies; multinational cor-
porations; and private military companies to name but a few of the most
relevant.Theparticularobjectivesofthisproject,andtheresultingdemandsof
research design and data collection aimed at demonstrating the extent of
Preface ix
change with and among states, pointed to a more bounded focus. However,
the book does detail the crucial agency of transnational civil society—
especially the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, International
Committee of the Red Cross, and Coalition for the International Criminal
Court—inpromotingimplementationandaddressingnon-complianceinthe
treaty cases, and in this respect takes seriously their vital influence in the
still-evolvingstatusoftheseinstitutions.
The decision to largely forego a systematic assessment of non-state armed
groupsinthedevelopmentoftheMineBanTreatyandInternationalCriminal
Court, in particular, was not made lightly. After all, non-state armed groups
are prominent participants in contemporary armed conflict and as such
contribute to the promotion of, and resistance to, international norms con-
cerning the regulation of armed violence and criminal accountability. How-
ever, further broadening the scope of the study would come at the cost of
analyticdepth,asoneofthevirtuesofthecurrentpresentationisthewealthof
detailed data with which to assess the relative success in changing social
expectationswithinandbetweenstates.Otherscholarshaverecentlyprovided
sophisticated accounts of the increasing engagement of non-state armed
groups with international humanitarian law (e.g. Jo 2015) and interested
readers woulddo well to consult these sources. Insofar as this book does not
presumetoofferthelastwordonthesubject,therefore,myhopeisthatitwill
provide impetus for further research on the contemporary status and trajec-
tories of non-great power institutions which can—and should—include a
numberofproductiveavenuesofinquiry.
AdamBower
Edinburgh
13May2016