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| 1 |
ID:
158687
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article introduces the concept of protean power as the basis for a better analysis of unanticipated events in world politics. Protean power is the effect of actors’ agility as they adapt in situations of uncertainty. This definition departs from conventional definitions of power, which focus on actors’ evolving ability to exercise control in situations of calculable risk and their consequent ability to cause outcomes these actors deem desirable. We argue that this conventional view is overly confining; inclusion of protean power in our analytical models helps us to better account for unexpected change in world politics. Notably, actors respond to shifts between risk and uncertainty, in both context and experience, with affirmation, refusal, improvisation, or innovation. In doing so, they create room for control and protean power as effects, rather than causes, of such practices. However, protean power should not replace control power. These two basic forms of power relate to one another, in a variety of ways, in complex contexts characterized by both risk and uncertainty.
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| 2 |
ID:
145068
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the trajectory of sustainable development as an evolving international norm from 1992 to 2012. It observes that sustainable development has been broadly diffused and institutionalized. Yet it is generally recognized that it has not prompted widespread change in the behavior and policy priorities of states: an outcome the article characterizes as a “failure to launch.” It explains the stalling of the norm by drawing attention to the protracted norm definition process. It analyzes an original dataset of speeches given at UN conferences on sustainable development, revealing how actors interpret the norm at three different time points. The analysis focuses on the breadth of conceptual consensus that emerges from these actors' interpretations and the depth of behavioral expectations implied by the collective discourse. It suggests that the shifting content and unstable discursive consensus regarding sustainable development has impeded the norm's ability to become a meaningful focal point for coordination and a legitimate constraint on state behavior.
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