The limits of state-led norm entrepreneurship: The United Kingdom and the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI)
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481221079174 |
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481221079174
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2023, Vol. 25(2) 260 –276
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481221079174
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The limits of state-led norm
entrepreneurship: The United
Kingdom and the Preventing
Sexual Violence in Conflict
Initiative (PSVI)
Blake Lawrinson
Abstract
This article examines the limits of state-led norm entrepreneurship in the case of the UK and the
Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative. The UK-led Preventing Sexual Violence in conflict
Initiative emerged in 2012 and accelerated to the tipping point and beginning of the norm cascade
by 2014. However, the Preventing Sexual Violence in conflict Initiative has since struggled to
sustain similar levels of UK-led entrepreneurship where resources and institutional support have
stagnated and declined. This article argues that the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative
is evidence of how a norm that originally benefits from powerful state-led entrepreneurship to the
point of cascading has to be maintained by consistent state support to prevent its progress from
slowing, and potentially stagnating, at a significant moment in its evolution. The article contributes
to research on norm entrepreneurship, the norm lifecycle, and analysis of the reasons why the
UK’s entrepreneurship on the Preventing Sexual Violence in conflict Initiative has gradually
stagnated when compared to its initial considerable investment in leadership and support.
Keywords
cascade, norm entrepreneurship, norm lifecycle, norms, PSVI, UK foreign policy
Introduction
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) was jointly launched in
2012 by the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague (2012), and the Special Envoy to the
United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, to tackle sexual
violence in conflict and address ‘the culture of impunity and establish a new culture of
deterrence in its place’. With support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
and access to international venues such as the United Nations and G8, Hague assumed
primary responsibility for initially leading the PSVI where it accelerated in a short period
School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Corresponding author:
Blake Lawrinson, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Email: b.w.lawrinson@leeds.ac.uk
1079174BPI0010.1177/13691481221079174The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsLawrinson
research-article2022
Original Article
Lawrinson 261
of time from an emerging norm in 2012 to reaching a tipping point and beginning to cas-
cade by 2014.
Following this considerable progress in its first 2 years, a 2020 report from the
Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI, 2020: ii) found that post-2015, ‘high-
level ministerial interest waned, and funding and staffing levels for the PSVI team were
reduced’. Alongside this, the PSVI’s budget of £15 million in 2014–2015 ‘has precipi-
tously fallen’ to under £2 million by 2018–2019 (ICAI, 2020: 9). The government’s
response to the ICAI report was to maintain that ‘the PSVI remains a top priority for the
UK Government’ as shown by the ministerial appointment of the Prime Minister’s Special
Representative for the PSVI, continued funding, and support for the UK Team of Experts
(HM Government, 2020: 1). However, this position is in contrast to Hague’s (2021) sug-
gestion that ‘the UK government has continued PSVI but with lower priority’.
This article argues that this shift in the government’s prioritisation, and the stagnation
in its level of support, reveals the limitations of state-led norm entrepreneurship on the
PSVI. Specifically, it argues that the PSVI is evidence of how a norm that originally ben-
efits from powerful state-led entrepreneurship to the point of reaching the norm cascade
stage of its development has to be maintained by consistent state leadership and support
to prevent its progress from slowing, stagnating, and potentially following a non-linear
norm lifecycle at a significant moment in its evolution. The PSVI gained significant trac-
tion from UK-led entrepreneurship between 2012 and 2014 through a combination of the
organisational platform of the FCO, the international leadership of Hague as Foreign
Secretary, and the venues available for UK entrepreneurship on the international stage.
Following this period, responsibility for the PSVI shifted to the junior ministerial role of
the Prime Minister’s Special Representative, while resources from the FCO have declined
substantially relative to the 2014–2015 budget.
The article thus shows the challenges of state-led norm entrepreneurship when the
evolution of a norm becomes closely associated with a particular state, where over the
course of a norm’s lifetime experiences changing governments, ministers, and foreign
policy priorities, which may in turn lead to changes in a government’s institutional sup-
port and allocation of resources. In doing so, it draws attention to the importance of the
domestic institutional environment required to sustain a norm even as it cascades in a
situation where it still remains primarily dependent on its original entrepreneur.
To analyse the progress and limitations of the UK’s entrepreneurship on the PSVI, the
article draws on a combination of 38 speeches, statements, commentary, press releases,
and reports from the UK government, ministers, the FCO, House of Lords Committee
Inquiries, written evidence, and official government responses, independent commis-
sions, news commentary, and UN resolutions between 2012 and 2021. This timeframe
covers the PSVI’s founding through to the publication of the ICAI report, while account-
ing for any notable developments in 2021.
This argument is structured in three sections. The first addresses the theoretical context
on norm entrepreneurship, the linear and non-linear lifecycle of norms, and the PSVI.
Section ‘2012–2014: The swift emergence and evolution of the PSVI’ then examines
UK-led entrepreneurship on the PSVI between 2012 and 2014, which covers its emer-
gence to reaching the tipping point and cascading. Section ‘2015–2020: The limits of UK
norm entrepreneurship on the PSVI’ analyses the gradual stagnation of the UK’s entrepre-
neurship on the PSVI between 2015 and 2020 to support the argument that a norm which
initially benefits from powerful state-led entrepreneurship requires sustained support to
continue its normative progress and prevent it stagnating and potentially following a non-
linear lifecycle.
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