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How International Law Standards Pervade Discourse on the Use of Armed Force - Insights into European and US Newspaper Debates between 1990 and 2005

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  • Swantje Renfordt
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    Abstract

    For almost a decade, ‘public legitimacy’ has remained largely unaddressed in empirical international relations (IR) analyses of international legalization. Yet, this concept has behavioral consequences. IR scholars for long assume that a belief in the legitimacy of a norm may be one reason for a ‘compliance pull’ on the international stage. The present study addresses this gap. It suggests a sociological conception of legalization observable in mass media debates and encompassing law’s ‘public legitimacy’, understood as the congruence between legal regulations and discursive practices to that effect that these rules are also accepted by the larger public. This conception is illustrated in European and US newspaper reporting about military interventions in the post-Cold War era (1990-2005). Based on a large-n media analysis, the study not only concludes that an ‘international rule of law’ frame is heavily diffused across the communicative practices of European and US public spheres. It also shows that two legal norms in particular – human rights and United Nations (UN) multilateralism – generate a shared sense of ‘public legitimacy’ across the six countries analyzed.

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    File URL: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/kfgeu/kfgwp/wpseries/WorkingPaperKFG_13.pdf
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    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by Free University Berlin in its series KFG Working Papers with number p0013.

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    Date of creation: 27 May 2010
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    Handle: RePEc:erp:kfgxxx:p0013

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    Web page: http://www.transformeurope.eu/

    Related research

    Keywords: European Public Sphere; media; legitimacy; Europeanization; Europeanization;

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    1. Finnemore, Martha & Toope, Stephen J., 2001. "Alternatives to “Legalization”: Richer Views of Law and Politics," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(03), pages 743-758, June.
    2. March, James G. & Olsen, Johan P., 1998. "The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(04), pages 943-969, September.
    3. Lutz, Ellen L. & Sikkink, Kathryn, 2000. "International Human Rights Law and Practice in Latin America," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(03), pages 633-659, June.
    4. Keohane, Robert O. & Moravcsik, Andrew & Slaughter, Anne-Marie, 2000. "Legalized Dispute Resolution: Interstate and Transnational," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(03), pages 457-488, June.
    5. Simmons, Beth A., 2000. "The Legalization of International Monetary Affairs," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(03), pages 573-602, June.
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