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
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