Will rising powers undermine global norms? The case of gender-balanced decision-making
| Author | John A. Scherpereel,Melinda Adams,Suraj Jacob |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1354066116681429 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066116681429
European Journal of
International Relations
2017, Vol. 23(4) 780 –808
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1354066116681429
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Will rising powers undermine
global norms? The case of
gender-balanced decision-
making
Suraj Jacob
Azim Premji University, India
John A. Scherpereel
James Madison University, USA
Melinda Adams
James Madison University, USA
Abstract
Will rising world powers tilt global norms in less progressive directions? While there
has been much theoretical speculation on this question, few scholars have explored
it empirically. This article uses existing empirical evidence to test the extent to which
countries compromise their own values to gain favor with influential countries. We
analyze the gender of ambassadors sent to rising powers and established powers and
suggest that this analysis generates insight into the likely effects of rising powers on
global norms. We find that the probability that a country will send a woman ambassador
to a rising power is significantly lower than the probability that it will send a woman
ambassador to an established world power. We show that this difference increases
when the sending country exhibits high levels of international economic dependence.
Our findings imply that the rise of countries like China, Russia, and India may undermine
the global gender-balanced decision-making norm and progressive global norms more
broadly.
Keywords
Ambassadors, gender-balanced decision-making, global norms, rising powers
Corresponding author:
John A. Scherpereel, James Madison University, 91. E. Grace St., MSC 7705, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA.
Email: scherpja@jmu.edu
681429EJT0010.1177/1354066116681429European Journal of International RelationsJacob et al.
research-article2017
Article
Jacob et al. 781
Introduction
Over the past three decades, a diverse set of actors has driven the creation of global
norms associated with domains like democracy, torture, gender, and the environment.
Researchers have studied the evolution, consolidation, and effects of global norms; their
work suggests that effects of norms are considerable (Checkel, 1998; Cortell and Davis,
2000; Hafner-Burton, 2013; Keck and Sikkink, 1998). As these studies have been pub-
lished, global power balances have begun to shift. Rising powers like Brazil, Russia,
India, China, and South Africa (the so-called BRICS) have developed rapidly. These
large, high-growth countries are gaining economic and political clout in a globalizing
world. To what extent might rising powers affect the global normative order and the
behaviors of other states?
Some observers fear that rising powers will erode progressive norms (Castañeda,
2010; Chin and Thakur, 2010). Par Engstrom (2012: 1–3) has considered this question in
the context of human rights:
[i]f political, economic and social power is important in understanding the development of
international human rights regime, what are the implications as power shifts in the international
system? … Countries such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa are not likely to develop
approaches to human rights in line with the “moral consensus” that many human rights
advocates, and Western policy-makers, seek to advance.
Others contest the idea that rising powers will undermine liberal institutions and norms.
Authors such as Breslin (2013), Ikenberry (2011), Kahler (2013), and Nel (2010) suggest
that emerging powers are internally diverse and, in certain cases, disposed to maintain
the normative and institutional structures that have facilitated their ascent.
To date, however, much of the thinking about the effects of rising powers has been
speculative and theoretical. Our approach is different. We use existing empirical evi-
dence to test the idea that rising powers will undermine global norms in the future. We
do this by investigating the extent to which states already compromise their values to
gain favor with influential countries. We focus on the global norm on gender-balanced
decision-making (GBDM) (Krook and True, 2012). Over the course of the post-war era,
there has been increased international attention to women’s participation in domestic and
international political institutions. The United Nations (UN) World Conferences on
Women culminated in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which called for a minimum
of 30% women in decision-making posts. The GBDM norm has both promoted and been
shaped by the adoption of gender quotas and increases in women’s representation in
legislatures, cabinets, and corporate governance boards. It is possible that the increasing
prominence of countries that challenge or undermine the GBDM norm will weaken the
norm over time and that levels of women’s representation across the world will decline.
The stakes of such a development could be very high; indeed, recent research suggests
that lower levels of women’s political representation are associated with higher levels of
interstate conflict (Caprioli, 2000; Koch and Fulton, 2011), higher levels of intrastate
civil conflict (Melander, 2005a), higher levels of human rights abuses (Melander, 2005b),
and higher rates of rape and domestic violence (Pinker, 2011).
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