Changing Arms Control Norms in International Society

When states’ survival is at stake, do states behave according to norms, do states refrain from using certain weapons based on norms against their use?

Adachi presents a comprehensive analytical framework for analysing norm dynamics, incorporating the existing literature, while expanding the norm life cycle model to address contestation of, resistance to diffusion of, and disappearance of norms. He also examines the changing nature of international society, and how the evolving characteristics of this society change how norms are shared. His focus is on norms relating to the use and non-use of weapons, with examples of how norms developed in different places and at different times with regard to particular types of weapons. From the banning of gun use in Japan under Bushido, to international bans on chemical weapons and the foundation of norms on nuclear weapons, he looks not only at how such norms come about, but how they can become contested or disappear.

A valuable contribution to the literature on norms in International Relations, this volume will be of particular interest to scholars and students with an interest in the control of arms.