Agentic constructivism and the Proliferation Security Initiative: Modeling norm change
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Author | Jeffrey S Lantis |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836716640831 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Cooperation and Conflict
2016, Vol. 51(3) 384 –400
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0010836716640831
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Agentic constructivism and
the Proliferation Security
Initiative: Modeling norm
change
Jeffrey S Lantis
Abstract
Recent developments in global politics and international relations theory have raised questions
about the strength of international norms. Critical constructivists identify instances of norm
change, contestation, and even regress, arguing that norms may be less deeply internalized and
more fragile than often assumed. This study builds on contemporary constructivist scholarship to
advance a model of elite-driven norm change with stages of redefinition and substitution through
contestation. It conducts a plausibility probe of the model by analyzing the development of the
Proliferation Security Initiative, the US-led program that appeared designed to change normative
principles from non-proliferation to counter-proliferation and from freedom of navigation on
the high seas to maritime interdiction of suspect weapons and technology shipments. The model
lends valuable insights on the evolution of norms to accommodate new realities over the last
decade, and it suggests the need for more contingent and multi-linear theories of international
cooperation.
Keywords
Constructivism, international norms, norm change, Proliferation Security Initiative
Introduction
Policy-makers have struggled for centuries to establish normative architectures that
would help prevent international conflicts. For example, in the face of conquest, exploi-
tation, and lawlessness in the world’s oceans, western leaders espoused freedom of navi-
gation of the seas as the foundation of a new norm. This principle was later institutionalized
in Geneva Conventions and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), a comprehensive legal platform for maritime activity that granted legiti-
macy to freedom of the seas and exclusivity of jurisdiction of the flag state. In a similar
way, policy-makers advanced the nuclear non-proliferation norm during the Cold War to
Corresponding author:
Jeffrey S Lantis, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
Email: jlantis@wooster.edu
640831CAC0010.1177/0010836716640831Cooperation and ConflictLantis
research-article2016
Article
Lantis 385
help prevent the spread of these dangerous weapons. The 1970 Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was constructed to bind countries to the com-
mon goal of curbing the spread of nuclear weapons. In exchange for a commitment not
to seek nuclear weapons, developing countries received assurances for assistance with
peaceful nuclear energy programs.
Constructivist international relations theory has advanced through two generations of
the study of ideational foundations of cooperation. First-generation works described the
norm life-cycle as the development of new principles for global politics by norm entre-
preneurs, their advancement through a cascade effect, and state embrace and ‘internali-
zation’ (Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998: 896). Constructivists argued that institutional
cooperation and identities become mutually constitutive, providing legitimacy and rein-
forcement for positive practices. Conversely, advances in second-generation critical con-
structivism suggest traditional norms may be more fragile than previously acknowledged;
they promote careful examination of relationships between agent and structures in norm
contestation (Acharya, 2011; Müller and Wunderlich, 2013; Wiener, 2014).
Building on critical constructivism, this study advances a model of norm change
driven by great power agents with advanced capabilities and material resources. It posits
that norms may be less constitutive and more malleable when powerful players are deter-
mined to change them, yet the regulatory factors and legitimacy of norms frames remain
important in defining the ultimate outcome. It conducts a plausibility probe of a two-
stage model of elite norm entrepreneurship and interdependency in the George W. Bush
administration, focused on discursive interventions to foster norm change by establish-
ing the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The PSI was designed to sanction multina-
tional coordination for forceful interdictions of suspected illicit weapons or dual-use
technology shipments on the high seas, and it has been endorsed by dozens of countries.
This suggests a shifting norm frame to support multilateral operations including surveil-
lance, monitoring, and interdiction as a new form of assertive counter-proliferation.
This article proceeds as follows: First, it surveys theoretical foundations in construc-
tivism related to international cooperation and its limitations. Next, it draws on second-
generation agentic constructivism and insights from international law and political
psychology to present a new model of norm change. The article then conducts a plausi-
bility probe of the model in the case of the PSI. An in-depth, single case study method,
supported by process tracing and elite interviews, examines the evolution of policy
behavior relative to norm frames through two stages of elite-driven redefinition and con-
structive norm substitution through contestation. Successful norm change is defined here
as the substantive alteration of ‘acceptable’ behavior as articulated by a critical mass of
players, and as measured by legitimacy and bandwagoning behavior. Finally, the article
assesses results of the study and draws implications for a more reflexive model of the
life, contestation, and evolution of norms.
Constructivism and the limits of norm ‘Life’
Constructivist international relations theory offered compelling perspectives on idea-
tional forces at work in global politics in the post-Cold War era. In 1995, Alexander
Wendt advanced a constructivist study of social structures as, ‘shared understandings,
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