Changing global norms on the elimination of violence against women

Analyses of global norms often concentrate on their importance for social dynamics and political processes in countries assuming that the norms themselves are relatively stable. In recent years it has been increasingly recognised that global norms are differently interpreted in different situations and that this process is heavily influenced by power and politics. Less attention has been given to whether global norms as negotiated in international contexts are stable or evolve.

With a focus on the elimination of violence against women, a new DIIS Working Paper takes up this issue and analyses documents resulting from UN negotiations over a 28-year period. The paper identifies five different dimensions of the normative regime and concludes that some of these dimensions have changed so much over this period that the stability of the regime is challenged. This underlines that the emergence and development of global norms are highly political processes.

The working paper is part of the GLOW Research Programme.