Lisbeth Zimmermann

Local reactions to democracy promotion in fragile post-conflict states are rarely analyzed in detail. Traditionally, International Relations theory is interested in the compliance with and conditions for the take-over of international norms.

The more complicated processes of “localization” and intermediate outcomes beyond the categories of rejection and take-over are hardly taken into account. This paper reviews approaches to localization from International Relations and neighboring disciplines. It argues that adding a new dimension of appropriation to the model of norm take-over can help to derive a more precise picture of the intermediate outcomes of norm diffusion. For that reason the categories of “embedding” and “reshaping” of diffused norm sets are added to the analytical tool kit.

The significance of these categories is demonstrated by analyzing three cases of democracy promotion in post-conflict Guatemala: the promotion of political and civil human rights, of children rights, and of an international justice commission. In particular the elaborateness and precision of these norm sets seem to influence the outcome of the appropriation process.

Please note: A revised version of this working paper is currently under review. Thus, a PDF download cannot be offered here. Please contact the author if you have any questions.