5. Mechanisms and Processes of Social Construction
1. Norm Entrepreneurs
2. International Organizations and Law
3. Epistemic Communities
4. Speech, Argument, and Persuasion
5. Structural Configuration
6. Case Study
The United States and the Normative Basis of Nuclear Non-Use
Why nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945?
● A normative prohibition on nuclear use has developed in the global
system, which, although not (yet) a fully robust norm, has stigmatized
nuclear weapons as unacceptable weapons of mass destruction.
● The nuclear taboo, by delegitimizing a particular weapons technology, has
decreased the likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used.
7. The Nuclear Taboo
● The nuclear taboo refers to a de facto prohibition against the use of
nuclear weapons. The taboo is not the behavior (of non-use) itself, but
rather the normative belief about the behavior.
● The taboo is associated with widespread popular revulsion against
nuclear weapons and widely held inhibitions on their use.
8. ● National leaders are forced to seek alternative technologies for use in
war or defense or else risk being classified as outside the bounds of
"civilized" international society.
● Still, though the taboo is probably not universal, it is today widespread, as
demonstrated both through domestic policies and widespread diplomatic
support. Further, though it is a systemic phenomenon, this does not
mean that it holds for all countries for similar reasons.
Editor's Notes
The shift in international attitudes toward nuclear weapons from 1945 to the present is well documented based on global public opinion, disarmament politics at the United Nations and other multilateral fora, and diplomatic statements in, and repeated resolutions of, the UN General Assembly calling for a ban on nuclear weapons.
The core analytical distinction is between how norms constrain and how they constitute. In this case, the norm on nuclear non-use has constrained and inhibited the US and other nuclear-able countries to use the potential of nuclear technology as a weapon of mass destruction.
