Introduction

This chapter moves from the general framework of constitutionalism to the specific conceptualisation of norms. It takes the project of bringing in the customary dimension of the nomos with a view to examining the impact of the ‘hidden’ aspects of contemporary constitutionalism one step further. To that end, it recalls the main contributions to the literature on norms advanced by constructivist work in International Relations theory, including insights from conventional, consistent and critical constructivist strands. The following assessment of the role of norms and their hidden meanings – which add a degree of contestedness to international politics – builds on the juxtaposition of two fundamentally distinctive conceptualisations of ‘interaction’ in International Relations theory. The first approach evolves from a behaviourist understanding of strategic interaction. It holds that, as the dependent variable, government behaviour demonstrates a reaction to particular types of norms. Accordingly, interaction is both regulated and constituted by norms; norms are conceptualised as ‘social facts’ which structure behaviour (Ruggie 1998b); and the concept of a norm is used ‘to describe collective expectations for the proper behavior of actors with a given identity’ (Katzenstein 1996: 5). The second approach works with a reflexive understanding of interaction.