Insights into shame and social opprobrium in world politics
Shaming is one of the tools used to influence states into alignment with international norms. It has led to both compliance and resistance. When it comes to understanding the micro-level mechanisms that trigger processes of compliance or resistance as a result of shaming, there is a notable gap in existing literature. Addressing this gap is the EU-funded SWP project with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. “With a focus on the USA and Israel, our aim was to develop a theoretical framework to understand the influence of shame on state foreign policy behaviour from a multidisciplinary perspective,” notes Carlotta Minnella, MSCA fellow. In doing so, the project aimed to answer key core research questions: what emotional states are triggered by shaming strategies? Under what conditions do these strategies encourage decision-makers to align their preferences with international norms? Which actors are the targets of such strategies and how do their reactions to social sanctions affect their organisation’s decision-making process?
Understanding shame – a novel framework
“SWP developed an innovative framework to theorise the link between the individual and group level effects of shame, based on the concept of vicarious shame, i.e. shame experienced as a result of an action carried out by a group of reference, labelled the ‘in-group’. This framework was adapted from contributions in social and cognitive psychology such as Tangney, 2002,” highlights Minnella. The framework postulates that elites within government agencies can experience shame at both individual and vicarious levels as representatives of their countries on the world stage. “Individual-level shame implies personal responsibility, while vicarious shame does not and depends on the level of identification with one’s country,” adds Minnella. The framework can account for the nuanced ways in which norm violation in international politics can trigger feelings of shame in policy actors.
Shame and world politics
SWP’s innovative study is based on original data that enhances the conceptual understanding of shame and social opprobrium in world politics. “Moreover, SWP’s design permits to differentiate between feelings of shame after a violation of an international norm occurs and after naming and shaming by third parties has taken place. This is important because it permits us to assess to what extent national security officials have internalised some key norms of the international system,” outlines Minnella. The project found that although the violation of a global norm by the in-group/country of reference leads to feelings of shame in government officials (both US and Israeli), naming and shaming has no effect on their emotional state and is not correlated with a positive behavioural response on the part of policymakers. A positive behavioural response, however, is engendered when feelings of shame are triggered by acquiring knowledge of an in-group violation. “Therefore, shame does exist in world politics; to paraphrase former Ambassador’s Samantha Power’s famous plea to her Russian counterpart, government elites are indeed ‘capable of shame’,” adds Minnella. The policy implications of these findings – when put to the test of the relevant officials in the targeted countries – shows that naming and shaming does not work to produce the intended effects, but rather leads to a negative behavioural response. “The case of Israel and its relations with the EU can be used as much to illustrate lessons to be learned as to tell a cautionary tale,” concludes Minnella.
Keywords
SWP, shame, world politics, compliance, resistance
