Norms have never been absent from the study of international politics, but the sweeping “ideational turn” in the 1980s and 1990s brought them back as a central theoretical concern in the field. Much theorizing about norms has focused on how they create social structure, standards of appropriateness, and stability in international politics. Recent empirical research on norms, in contrast, has examined their role in creating political change, but change processes have been less well-theorized. We induce from this research a variety of theoretical arguments and testable hypotheses about the role of norms in political change. We argue that norms evolve in a three-stage “life cycle” of emergence, “norm cascades,” and internalization, and that each stage is governed by different motives, mechanisms, and behavioral logics. We also highlight the rational and strategic nature of many social construction processes and argue that theoretical progress will only be made by placing attention on the connections between norms and rationality rather than by opposing the two.

/pdf/international-norm-dynamics-and-political-change-37ig9r9dlq.pdf

International Norm Dynamics and Political Change

Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative guide to econometrics uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation. One theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification. Explaining how estimates can be obtained and tests can be carried out, the authors go beyond a mere algebraic description to one that can be easily translated into the commands of a standard econometric software package. Covering an unprecedented range of problems with a consistent emphasis on those that arise in applied work, this accessible and coherent guide to the most vital topics in econometrics today is indispensable for advanced students of econometrics and students of statistics interested in regression and related topics. It will also suit practising econometricians who want to update their skills. Flexibly designed to accommodate a variety of course levels, it offers both complete coverage of the basic material and separate chapters on areas of specialized interest.

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

The history of international political orders is written in terms of continuity and change in domestic and international political relations. As a step toward understanding such continuity and change, we explore some ideas drawn from an institutional perspective. An institutional perspective is characterized in terms of two grand issues that divide students of international relations and other organized systems. The first issue concerns the basic logic of action by which human behavior is shaped. On the one side are those who see action as driven by a logic of anticipated consequences and prior preferences. On the other side are those who see action as driven by a logic of appropriateness and a sense of identity. The second issue concerns the efficiency of history. On the one side are those who see history as efficient in the sense that it follows a course leading to a unique equilibrium dictated by exogenously determined interests, identities, and resources. On the other side are those who see history as inefficient in the sense that it follows a meandering, path-dependent course distinguished by multiple equilibria and endogenous transformations of interests, identities, and resources. We argue that the tendency of students of international political order to emphasize efficient histories and consequential bases for action leads them to underestimate the significance of rule- and identity-based action and inefficient histories. We illustrate such an institutional perspective by considering some features of the coevolution of politics and institutions, particularly the ways in which engagement in political activities affects the definition and elaboration of political identities and the development of competence in politics and the capabilities of political institutions.

/pdf/the-institutional-dynamics-of-international-political-orders-4v1onuni6t.pdf

The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/internationalexeter/documents/iss/Dunning_IBR_2000.pdf

The eclectic paradigm as an envelope for economic and business theories of MNE activity

Social constructivism in international relations has come into its own during the past decade, not only as a metatheoretical critique of currently dominant neo-utilitarian approaches (neo-realism and neoliberal institutionalism) but increasingly in the form of detailed empirical findings and theoretical insights. Constructivism addresses many of the same issues addressed by neo-utilitarianism, though from a different vantage and, therefore, with different effect. It also concerns itself with issues that neo-utilitarianism treats by assumption, discounts, ignores, or simply cannot apprehend within its characteristic ontology and/or epistemology. The constructivist project has sought to open up the relatively narrow theoretical confines of conventional approaches—by pushing them back to problematize the interests and identities of actors; deeper to incorporate the intersubjective bases of social action and social order; and into the dimensions of space and time to establish international structure as contingent practice, constraining social action but also being (re)created and, therefore, potentially transformed by it.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2601360.pdf

What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/100814/1/wp1995-07.pdf

Identifying monetary policy in a small open economy under flexible exchange rates

Four models of direct investment are analyzed assuming various relationships between foreign and domestic production. The direct effect of risk-adjusted expected real foreign currency appreciation is to lower foreign capital cost, thus stimulating direct investment. However, when costs of other inputs are also affected, induced productivity changes or output price changes may offset the direct effect, reducing direct investment. Pooled estimation results for U.S. annual, bilateral direct investment flows to five industrialized countries show significant reductions associated with expected appreciation of real foreign currency and significant increases associated with risk. These results are consistent with the model where, in response to risk, the multinational firm reduces exports to the foreign country but offsets this somewhat by increasing foreign capital input and production.

Real Exchange Rate Risk, Expectations, and the Level of Direct Investment

The effects of real exchange rate risk on international trade

Ungewisheit uber Wechselkurse und Zustrom auslandischer Direkt-investitionen in die Vereinigten Staaten. - In diesem Aufsatz wird zunachst versucht zu klaren, auf welche Weise die Ungewisheit uber die Entwicklung der Wechselkurse die auslandischen Direktinvestitionen beeinflust, und danach werden solche Wirkungen auf den Zuflus auslandischer Direktinvestitionen in die Vereinigten Staaten getestet. Die theoretischen Wirkungen erwarteter Aufwertungen und von Risiken sind im allgemeinen nicht eindeutig und hangen von der Produktions- und Absatzstruktur des multinationalen Unternehmens ab. Im empirischen Teil zeigt sich, das die Zuflusse von Direktinvestitionen in die Vereinigten Staaten aus funf anderen Landern in signifikantem Mase negativ mit einer erwarteten Dollar-Aufwertung und positiv mit einer Erhohung der Wechselkursvariabilitat verbunden sind. Dieses Ergebnis ist konsistent mit den drei Typen von multinationalen Unternehmen, die sich in ihrer Produktions- und Absatzstruktur unterscheiden und in dieser Arbeit betrachtet werden.

David O. Cushman

Papers

Identifying monetary policy in a small open economy under flexible exchange rates

Real Exchange Rate Risk, Expectations, and the Level of Direct Investment

The effects of real exchange rate risk on international trade

Exchange-rate uncertainty and foreign direct investment in the United States

U.S. bilateral trade flows and exchange risk during the floating period