Normative Change and Security Community Disintegration Undoing Peace
This book develops a theoretical and empirical argument about the disintegration of security communities, and the subsequent breakdown of stable peace among nations, through a process of norm degeneration. It draws together two key bodies of contemporary
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Normative Change and Security Community Disintegration
Simon Koschut
Normative Change and Security Community Disintegration Undoing Peace
Simon Koschut Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-30323-9 ISBN 978-3-319-30324-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30324-6
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016945042 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © EdBookPhoto/Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland
To Nancy Whose wisdom and warmth has been a continuous source of inspiration
PREFACE
A community rests on the commitment of its members to intuitively follow and reproduce the social norms that are constitutive to its formation. In this sense, I agree with Heidegger (1969) who claims that the shared understanding that constitutes a community is, more often than not, ‘ready-to-hand’ (zuhanden) instead of simply ‘present-at-hand’ (vorhanden). As Bauman (2001, p. 11) notes, ‘we hardly ever notice the air we breathe, unless it is the foul and malodorous air of a stuffy room that we happen to inhale.’ As long as this system of tacitly respected ‘settled’ norms is internalized by all members, the community will probably outlive almost any ‘unsettling’ changes in its external or domestic environment. Once members begin to question the shared meaning of their social relationship, and its underlying norms, and stop caring for each other’s well-being, however, the ‘air will turn foul’ and the community may subsequently head down the road to disintegration. The investigation of normative change is becoming increasingly popular in international relations (IR). Most studies, however, focus on its progressive connotation. The possibility of a weakening or even disappearance of a
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