Making Global Norms : Politics versus Science in International Organizations

Abstract

Global norms form the core infrastructure of economic and political globalization. To be influential, these norms need to be codified into policy scripts that spell out their practical application. This process of developing scripts is a key job of international organizations (IOs), which act as venues where states can collectively make major decisions. IOs draw on scientific knowledge when forging policy scripts but are also highly attuned to political pressures. This book provides a theoretical account and an advanced methodological toolkit for studying how variation in the intensity of scientific consensus and political contestation produces policy scripts that modify global norms. We show that the policymakers involved in scriptwriting processes at IOs wear two hats: They are both political representatives of the states that appoint them and experts in their own right with worldviews that correspond to their expertise. They have to negotiate with each other, as well as with their organization’s technocratic staff, to shape the ultimate content of global policy scripts. The implication of our findings is that diversity within IOs matters; changes in the kinds of expertise that are present in deliberations can yield significant differences in how norms are modified. Our empirical focus is on the International Monetary Fund’s scripts for sovereign debt management, capital controls, and taxation. Drawing on a novel mixed-method methodological approach, Making Global Norms opens the black box on how some of the most important norms underpinning globalization were made.