IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/globco/qt918649dj.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Contesting the Anti-Coup Norm: ASEAN Responds to the 2021 Myanmar Coup

Author

Listed:
  • Plunkett, Anna
  • Tansey, Oisín

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, democracies have sought to create a range of normative and international legal standards intended to reduce the frequency and legitimacy of coups. The rise of the anti-coup norm has led to the isolation and punishment of numerous coup-created governments, and evidence suggests it has helped reduce the frequency of coup attempts. However, the norm is contested, and coup leaders often find that the international condemnation they face is countered by quiet acquiescence or active support by international allies. This paper examines the politics of norm contestation around the anti-coup norm by considering the international response to the 2021 coup in Myanmar. It introduces the concept of “norm waverers” and illustrates how committed norm promoters and norm resisters often try to persuade norm waverers—in this case exemplified by ASEAN—to join their respective camps. International pressure induced ASEAN to make normative commitments. But these commitments ultimately reflected a concern for reputation and credibility, rather than any underlying institutional commitment to the anti-coup norm. The result was a shallow institutionalization of the norm against the legitimacy of coups.

Suggested Citation

  • Plunkett, Anna & Tansey, Oisín, 2022. "Contesting the Anti-Coup Norm: ASEAN Responds to the 2021 Myanmar Coup," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt918649dj, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:globco:qt918649dj
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/918649dj.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uwe Puetter & Antje Wiener, 2007. "Accommodating Normative Divergence in European Foreign Policy Co‐ordination: The Example of the Iraq Crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1065-1088, December.
    2. Donno, Daniela, 2010. "Who Is Punished? Regional Intergovernmental Organizations and the Enforcement of Democratic Norms," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 593-625, October.
    3. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink, Kathryn, 1998. "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 887-917, October.
    4. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:45:y:2007:i::p:1065-1088 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dukalskis, Alexander, 2022. "A Fox in the Henhouse: China, Normative Change, and the United Nations Human Rights Council," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt3f04q4q5, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    2. Meyerrose, Anna M & Nooruddin, Irfan, 2022. "The Authoritarian Trojan Horse Threatening Liberal International Organizations," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt9n45z5cj, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    3. Katherine M. Beall, 2024. "Empowering to constrain: Procedural checks in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 443-468, September.
    4. Anna M. Meyerrose & Irfan Nooruddin, 2025. "Trojan horses in liberal international organizations? How democratic backsliders undermine the UNHRC," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 125-156, March.
    5. Plunkett, Anna & Tansey, Oisín, 2022. "Contesting the Anti-Coup Norm: ASEAN Responds to the 2021 Myanmar Coup," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt7sf7z6j7, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    6. Antje Wiener, 2016. "Contested Norms in Inter-National Encounters: The ‘Turbot War’ as a Prelude to Fairer Fisheries Governance," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 20-36.
    7. Marco Grasso & J. David Tàbara, 2019. "Towards a Moral Compass to Guide Sustainability Transformations in a High-End Climate Change World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Thereza RS de Aguiar, 2018. "Turning accounting for emissions rights inside out as well as upside down," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(1), pages 139-159, February.
    9. Jennifer Bickham Mendez, 2002. "Organizing a Space of their Own? Global/Local Processes in a Nicaraguan Women’s Organization," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 18(2-3), pages 196-227, June.
    10. Pedi Revecca & Sarri Katerina, 2019. "From the ‘Small but Smart State’ to the ‘Small and Entrepreneurial State’: Introducing a Framework for Effective Small State Strategies within the EU and Beyond," TalTech Journal of European Studies, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 3-19, June.
    11. Moch Faisal Karim, 2017. "Integrating European Muslims Through Discourse? Understanding the Development and Limitations of Euro-Islam in Europe," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 993-1011, November.
    12. Kikuta,Kyosuke & Hanayama,Manaho, 2023. "Does the Nobel Peace Prize Improve Women’s Rights? Prize and Praise in International Relations," IDE Discussion Papers 903, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    13. Galaz, V. & de Zeeuw, Aart & Shiroyama, Hideaki & Tripley, Debbie, 2016. "Planetary boundaries : Governing emerging risks and opportunities," Other publications TiSEM 0aebe291-f890-4a2d-9ab7-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Bernhard Boockmann, 2003. "Mixed Motives: An Empirical Analysis of ILO Roll-Call Voting," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 263-285, December.
    15. Neil M. Dawson & Michael Mason & Janet A. Fisher & David Mujasi Mwayafu & Hari Dhungana & Heike Schroeder & Mark Zeitoun, 2018. "Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, May.
    16. Prather, Lauren, 2024. "Ideology at the Water’s Edge: Explaining Variation in Public Support for Foreign Aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Eero Palmujoki, 2009. "Global principles for sustainable biofuel production and trade," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 135-151, May.
    18. Kerstin Radtke, 2014. "ASEAN Enlargement and Norm Change – A Window of Opportunity for Democracy and Human Rights Entrepreneurs?," Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 33(3), pages 79-105.
    19. Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos & Chad Kiewiet de Jonge & Carlos Meléndez & David Nickerson & Javier Osorio, 2020. "Carrots and sticks: Experimental evidence of vote-buying and voter intimidation in Guatemala," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 46-61, January.
    20. Holzscheiter, Anna & Bahr, Thurid & Pantzerhielm, Laura, 2016. "Emerging Governance Architectures in Global Health: Do Metagovernance Norms Explain Inter-Organisational Convergence?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 4(3), pages 5-19.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:globco:qt918649dj. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://escholarship.org/uc/igcc/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.