Lecture 11 power and change the world

Power

and change

worldin t

he

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it

Do we change?1

change2

How we change: norms and norm shifting3

What we change4

What we might change5

Do we change?1

Is

possible

change?

ontological question

Realismconstructivism

If so, change what?

Do we change the way we are doing what do?

IR paradigm of technical change of existing processes

or do we change our most fundamental assumptions of how to be in the world?

change2

normalevidence suggests change is

Abolition of slavery

Universal suffrage – Sylvia Pankhurst

Nuclear disarmament

Gender quotas in legislatures

Landmines ban

Whaling ban

How we change: norms and norm shifting3

what’s a

NORM?

A norm is a dominant accepted behaviour we take for granted

Roberts 2010

values, principles and procedures that are widespread and institutionalized

Krook and True 2010: 106

generalized standards of conduct that

delineate the scope of a state’s entitlements,

the extent of its obligations, and the range of

its jurisdiction

Raymond 1997: 128 “

global code of appropriate behaviour

Ingebritsen 2002: 11

prescribe, proscribe and order behaviour, operate like standards that specify the proper enactment of an already defined identity and establish rights and obligations

Bjorkdahl 2002: 15 “

norms are the rules that

restrict behaviour to

stasis

the means by which new rules and

behaviours develop

movement from one way

of being to another

(Roberts 2010)

Every norm is simply the outcome of a particular power struggle

Evans 2011: 751

Life cycle of norms (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998)

new norm is expressed and

listened to

minority of States support and create

tipping point

cascade effect after about 30%

non-state actors may support by applying

pressure to non-conforming States

norms internationalis

ed and internalized

adopted into general practice until

challenged again

starts with norms entrepreneurs who can make themselves heard

a person who notices a pattern, identifies it as such, and somehow foists it on the public as a normative, and not merely descriptive, model or standard. Senator Joseph McCarthy, The Beatles, Madonna, and Miss Manners... may all be seen as norm entrepreneurs

Gilman 2002: 2395

they provide political elevation for the transmission into the international debating arena of new proposals for change

Roberts 2010

What we change3

Reforming the

World Bank Presidency

World Bank IS

NOT

AUTONOMOUS

National domination of

Board of Executives

2009 UK IDA

24Acquired support of

key states

2009

Europeans

eligible for Presidency

Evidence of real change in major global financial organisation

but…

disbursement culture:

rewards and punishments

for meeting or missing lending targets

approval culture

lending for lending’s sake

to empty budgets if

they are to be replenished

internal intellectual ethos

‘an absence of ideological pluralism’

(Mehta 2001; Williams and Young 1994)

Global Immunization

75 800,000

No. of children’s lives saved by 1995

25 million

No. of infants reached at first attempt

Ince

ptio

n

poin

t

Colombia

1984 Visionary UNICEF entrepreneur

JIM GRANT% of child popn.

Happened despite major

obstacles

UNICEF would fail and destroy its reputation

Couldn’t be done because it had never been done

No money

No roads, clinics, electricity, fridges, cold

chains, demand

disturbed comfortable routines

relegated real struggle for poverty alleviation

why did it

WORK

brute force in ejecting those against the idea

Faultless public health logic

genuine idealism,

respected for its purity

small interventions

cheaply d o n e

manipulated governments seekinginternational recognition

System

confirming System

modifying

What we might change4

System

transforming

Recent thinking

Limits to Growth1972

infinite demand

identified paradox of

finite resources

Limits to Growth2002

fundamental conflict between rising demand and

shrinking resources... Sustainable development

is… yoking together two ideas that may be

irreconcilable: our established notions of

development and our emergent awareness of

sustainability

KC Bell, 2008 “

We need to develop sustainability, not sustainable development“

Richard HeinbergThe End of Growth2011

the expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable, natural limits

promote human and environmental well-being, rather than continuing to pursue ever-expanding Gross Domestic Product

Tim JacksonProsperity without Growth

2011

prioritizes sources of well-being, creativity and lasting prosperity that lie outside the realm of the market

Dietz and O’Neill

Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources

2013

excessive consumption not improving our

lives

goal should be enough, not

more

McDonagh and Braungart

Cradle to Cradle2002

Design to total recycle, not downcycle to waste

generates nourishing waste or no waste, rather than depleting resources

endless cycle of materials

EF SchumacherA Guide for the Perplexed1995

shift from materialism to more internal needs

identify the most important features of life in their proper prominence.

JR EhrenfeldSustainability by Design1995

Sustainability is the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on Earth forever.

rather than

being

having and doing

Our choices for change

valorizing or sanctioning consumption is

part of the problem

if consumption continues, non-renewable resources will end

we are denying this and mythologizing technological solutions (e.g. cold fusion)

we need to change the consumption ethos and find ourselves, the unconditioned, pre-consumption self

the ones who are CRAZY enough to think they can CHANGE the world, are the ones WHO DO