Emergence and Assimilation of Practice in Global Governance: The Example of Arms Embargo Monitoring by United Nations Panels of Experts

JVF Conference Papers

How do practices emerge and stabilize in global governance?

Global governance is a vast domain consisting of an intricate web of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, think-tanks, and state agencies, some of which are ­furthermore characterized by internal organizational difficulties and conflicting interests. Despite this apparent disorder, practices emerge and converge across different actors involved in global governance. While one might suspect that self-interested intervention by powerful states drives this convergence, my research points to the importance of social dynamics at the level of practitioners.

In this text, I synthesize some of my arguments and results.

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