Arrangement

The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) has the pleasure of inviting you to a theory seminar with Rebecca Adler-Nissen
 who will present the paper:

Stigma Management in International Relations: Norms, Order and Trangressive Identities
The paper develops a theoretical approach to stigma in international relations and resituates conventional approaches to the study of norms and international order. Correcting the general understanding that common values and norms are the building blocks of social order, this article claims that international society is in part constructed through the stigmatisation of 'transgressive' and norm-violating states and their ways of coping with stigma.

Drawing on Erving Goffman, this article shows that stigmatisation serves the important function of producing and upholding ideas about 'normal' state behaviour. However, states are not passive objects of socialisation, but active agents. Stigmatised states cope strategically with their stigma and may, in some cases, challenge and even transform a dominant moral discourse.The cases of Germany, Austria and Cuba illustrate states' differing strategies in stigma managment.

Rebecca Adler-Nissen is Assistant Professor at the Center for European Politics, University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on International Relations theory (especially International Political Sociology), diplomacy, sovereignty, security and European integration.She is former Head of Section in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Relevant paper