Carla Winston | University of Melbourne (original) (raw)
Papers by Carla Winston
International Studies Quarterly
This theory note argues that international norms, as currently understood by scholars of internat... more This theory note argues that international norms, as currently understood by scholars of international relations, can be seen as emergent properties of a complex adaptive system (the international political system). Arising from the microlevel interactions of agents within and across various levels of analysis, they have the potential to become system properties that (a) influence the constitution, relationships, and behavior of agents within that system and (b) are not analytically reducible to the sum of the interactions between those agents. They also exhibit evolutionary dynamics common to complex, rather than merely complicated, systems. Thinking of norms in this manner helps point norms scholars toward particular spaces and methodologies of research. After a brief resume of complexity theory in IR, the note proceeds with an introduction to complex systems theory. It then explores the conceptual nexus between norms theory and complexity. It finishes by suggesting the ways in wh...
There are a wide variety of contemporary international norms: some are large and diffuse, while o... more There are a wide variety of contemporary international norms: some are large and diffuse, while others are concise and clear. Some norm-adopting states follow precedent, while some adapt or innovate even as they profess to follow the same norm. This dissertation attempts to explain the variation in both norms and states' normative decisions by investigating the conceptual structure of norms. I argue that while norms are currently understood to be a single grouping of three components-a problem, a justification, and a behavior-in reality, the international community often allows deviations from those combined components as acceptable interpretations of the original norm.
The International Journal of Human Rights, 2020
Tactical concessions represent a critical juncture in the process of human rights change; dependi... more Tactical concessions represent a critical juncture in the process of human rights change; depending on how they are used by autocrats or the opposition, they can either thwart or enable further improvements in human rights. This article argues that some truth commissions, traditionally examined with a transitional justice lens, should instead be considered as tactical concessions. In many ways, the two sets of theorised causal processes overlap significantly. By examining in detail Idi Amin's 1974 Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances in Ugandathe world's first (and mostly forgotten) truth commissionthis paper explores the features of truth commissions which make thempotential tactical concessions: sites of active contestation between those who wish to advance human rights and those who do not,both domestically and internationally. The Amin caseprovides compelling evidence for both sets of causal processesand offers additional insights into the roles of information control and institutional norms in the spiral model.
Journal of Human Rights, 2020
Scholarship on human rights norms is fraught with inconsistencies between different interpretatio... more Scholarship on human rights norms is fraught with inconsistencies between different interpretations of norm diffusion and effect. This problem can be remedied in part through a closer examination of the structure of norms themselves and how that structure informs the process of data collection, particularly for quantitative analysis. Contemporary international norms have a tripartite structure, and research on contemporary norms must gather data on all three components of this structure in order to accurately identify the object of study. The addition of value statements to existing datasets offers a method of data validation to ensure that the behaviors identified are actually expressions of the norm being studied. The researcher can correct two distinct forms of overcounting: behaviors that correspond to other norms and behaviors that are not identified as normative at all. As a demonstration, I use the set of norms known collectively as transitional justice.
The Mass Appeal of Human Rights, 2019
Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2019
Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promo... more Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promotion of rules and standards, and democratic legitimacy. Yet NGO participation in GGIs is unevenly distributed by country of origin. This paper examines patterns of NGO participation in GGIs, and how participation is shaped by incentives and pressures at global and national levels. First, we map NGO participation by country of origin across 42 GGIs based on the roles that GGIs grant to NGOs and by variations in domestic conditions of income level and political regime type. Second, to delve more deeply into domestic factors, we provide an exploratory statistical regression based on NGO participation in two major GGIs, the UN Global Compact on corporate social responsibility and the UNFCCC Conferences of Parties on climate change. We find evidence that participation patterns reflect both the varying institutional design of GGIs and NGO capacity linked to domestic conditions. We observe that NGOs with constrained capacity due to domestic factors gravitate toward GGIs that offer the most significant roles for NGOs, with the greatest opportunity to influence policy. We suggest that domestic civil society factors beyond level of economic development and regime type shape NGO participation at the global level. Analysis of this wide-ranging set of GGIs provides more general confirmation of patterns of NGO engagement in global governance previously identified in studies limited to particular issue sectors or cases.
Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2019
Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promo... more Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promotion of rules and standards, and democratic legitimacy. Yet NGO participation in GGIs is unevenly distributed by country of origin. This paper examines patterns of NGO participation in GGIs, and how participation is shaped by incentives and pressures at global and national levels. First, we map NGO participation by country of origin across 42 GGIs based on the roles that GGIs grant to NGOs and by variations in domestic conditions of income level and political regime type. Second, to delve more deeply into domestic factors, we provide an exploratory statistical regression based on NGO participation in two major GGIs, the UN Global Compact on corporate social responsibility and the UNFCCC Conferences of Parties on climate change. We find evidence that participation patterns reflect both the varying institutional design of GGIs and NGO capacity linked to domestic conditions. We observe that NGOs with constrained capacity due to domestic factors gravitate toward GGIs that offer the most significant roles for NGOs, with the greatest opportunity to influence policy. We suggest that domestic civil society factors beyond level of economic development and regime type shape NGO participation at the global level. Analysis of this wide-ranging set of GGIs provides more general confirmation of patterns of NGO engagement in global governance previously identified in studies limited to particular issue sectors or cases.
Atlantic Journal of Communication
European Journal of International Relations
International Studies Quarterly
This theory note argues that international norms, as currently understood by scholars of internat... more This theory note argues that international norms, as currently understood by scholars of international relations, can be seen as emergent properties of a complex adaptive system (the international political system). Arising from the microlevel interactions of agents within and across various levels of analysis, they have the potential to become system properties that (a) influence the constitution, relationships, and behavior of agents within that system and (b) are not analytically reducible to the sum of the interactions between those agents. They also exhibit evolutionary dynamics common to complex, rather than merely complicated, systems. Thinking of norms in this manner helps point norms scholars toward particular spaces and methodologies of research. After a brief resume of complexity theory in IR, the note proceeds with an introduction to complex systems theory. It then explores the conceptual nexus between norms theory and complexity. It finishes by suggesting the ways in wh...
There are a wide variety of contemporary international norms: some are large and diffuse, while o... more There are a wide variety of contemporary international norms: some are large and diffuse, while others are concise and clear. Some norm-adopting states follow precedent, while some adapt or innovate even as they profess to follow the same norm. This dissertation attempts to explain the variation in both norms and states' normative decisions by investigating the conceptual structure of norms. I argue that while norms are currently understood to be a single grouping of three components-a problem, a justification, and a behavior-in reality, the international community often allows deviations from those combined components as acceptable interpretations of the original norm.
The International Journal of Human Rights, 2020
Tactical concessions represent a critical juncture in the process of human rights change; dependi... more Tactical concessions represent a critical juncture in the process of human rights change; depending on how they are used by autocrats or the opposition, they can either thwart or enable further improvements in human rights. This article argues that some truth commissions, traditionally examined with a transitional justice lens, should instead be considered as tactical concessions. In many ways, the two sets of theorised causal processes overlap significantly. By examining in detail Idi Amin's 1974 Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances in Ugandathe world's first (and mostly forgotten) truth commissionthis paper explores the features of truth commissions which make thempotential tactical concessions: sites of active contestation between those who wish to advance human rights and those who do not,both domestically and internationally. The Amin caseprovides compelling evidence for both sets of causal processesand offers additional insights into the roles of information control and institutional norms in the spiral model.
Journal of Human Rights, 2020
Scholarship on human rights norms is fraught with inconsistencies between different interpretatio... more Scholarship on human rights norms is fraught with inconsistencies between different interpretations of norm diffusion and effect. This problem can be remedied in part through a closer examination of the structure of norms themselves and how that structure informs the process of data collection, particularly for quantitative analysis. Contemporary international norms have a tripartite structure, and research on contemporary norms must gather data on all three components of this structure in order to accurately identify the object of study. The addition of value statements to existing datasets offers a method of data validation to ensure that the behaviors identified are actually expressions of the norm being studied. The researcher can correct two distinct forms of overcounting: behaviors that correspond to other norms and behaviors that are not identified as normative at all. As a demonstration, I use the set of norms known collectively as transitional justice.
The Mass Appeal of Human Rights, 2019
Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2019
Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promo... more Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promotion of rules and standards, and democratic legitimacy. Yet NGO participation in GGIs is unevenly distributed by country of origin. This paper examines patterns of NGO participation in GGIs, and how participation is shaped by incentives and pressures at global and national levels. First, we map NGO participation by country of origin across 42 GGIs based on the roles that GGIs grant to NGOs and by variations in domestic conditions of income level and political regime type. Second, to delve more deeply into domestic factors, we provide an exploratory statistical regression based on NGO participation in two major GGIs, the UN Global Compact on corporate social responsibility and the UNFCCC Conferences of Parties on climate change. We find evidence that participation patterns reflect both the varying institutional design of GGIs and NGO capacity linked to domestic conditions. We observe that NGOs with constrained capacity due to domestic factors gravitate toward GGIs that offer the most significant roles for NGOs, with the greatest opportunity to influence policy. We suggest that domestic civil society factors beyond level of economic development and regime type shape NGO participation at the global level. Analysis of this wide-ranging set of GGIs provides more general confirmation of patterns of NGO engagement in global governance previously identified in studies limited to particular issue sectors or cases.
Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2019
Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promo... more Global governance institutions (GGIs) increasingly rely upon NGO involvement for expertise, promotion of rules and standards, and democratic legitimacy. Yet NGO participation in GGIs is unevenly distributed by country of origin. This paper examines patterns of NGO participation in GGIs, and how participation is shaped by incentives and pressures at global and national levels. First, we map NGO participation by country of origin across 42 GGIs based on the roles that GGIs grant to NGOs and by variations in domestic conditions of income level and political regime type. Second, to delve more deeply into domestic factors, we provide an exploratory statistical regression based on NGO participation in two major GGIs, the UN Global Compact on corporate social responsibility and the UNFCCC Conferences of Parties on climate change. We find evidence that participation patterns reflect both the varying institutional design of GGIs and NGO capacity linked to domestic conditions. We observe that NGOs with constrained capacity due to domestic factors gravitate toward GGIs that offer the most significant roles for NGOs, with the greatest opportunity to influence policy. We suggest that domestic civil society factors beyond level of economic development and regime type shape NGO participation at the global level. Analysis of this wide-ranging set of GGIs provides more general confirmation of patterns of NGO engagement in global governance previously identified in studies limited to particular issue sectors or cases.
Atlantic Journal of Communication
European Journal of International Relations