Sharing Norms: The Process of LGBTQIA+ Norm Diffusion through Shared Identity

• In Event: Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights

Abstract

How does shared identity fostered by regional organizations alter a state’s internalization of norms? Socialization between states matters to the norm diffusion process. This leads to a state internalizing new patterns of appropriate behavior. Moreover, international organizations facilitate a forum from which states can argue and shape the confines of a norm before it is internalized domestically. Previous research has discussed the means in which an organization’s socialization occurs such as coercive diplomacy, continued discourse on said norm, and sustained practices that lead to patterned repetitive response over time. However, there still remains areas of the norm diffusion process that need to be explored. Not all aspects of the norm diffusion process involve structured discourse about the subject of a norm, sustained interaction that leads to internalization, or persuasive tactics to coerce a state into compliance. I argue that internalization of norms is a not just an active process generated through debate and persuasion but a passive one as well that comes from social actors internalizing and accepting norms over time even without the express persuasion of those around them. I argue that through mechanisms of social mimicry, shared identity, and normative influence, states internalize norms that manifest into societal acceptance. Using methods of process tracing, semi-structured interviewing techniques, and a case study of LGBTQIA+ norm internalization in Angola, I explore the norm internalization of norms into member states of the organization Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) and the shared identity known as Lusophony.

Author

• Robert Tanner Bivens, Eastern Illinois University