international norms

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

shared expectations and standards of appropriate behaviour for states and other international actors, which shape conduct in world politics even in the absence of a world government with enforcement power; international norms range from the prohibition on the first use of nuclear weapons to expectations of diplomatic immunity, the norm against chemical weapons use, and the humanitarian principles governing the treatment of prisoners of war; constructivist theories of international relations emphasise that norms are socially constructed through state practice, multilateral negotiation, and the advocacy of transnational civil society actors, and that they exercise real constraining power on state behaviour