Regional communities, membership and socialisation : a comparative analysis

Abstract

The study of how regional communities socialise human rights via membership has long been wedded to the detailed focus on the European Union (EU) as the most prominent example of that phenomenon. However, this over focus has unbalanced studies of how regional communities, membership and socialisation intersect, and the over concentration on a single atypical case has created an unhealthy preoccupation with notions of conditionality. This work corrects this myopia through a focus on the ASEAN relationship with Myanmar and the Organization of American States (OAS) relationship with Panama, as well as the EU relationship with Turkey. A comparative investigation of how membership, regional communities and socialisation interact provides not only empirical novelty, but requires innovative methodologies and theoretical frameworks. Methodologically, this study rests on the move towards analytical eclecticism already well established in the discipline more broadly. However, to do justice to the extended range of empirical studies, this work moves the foundations of this eclecticism into how we define norms and socialisation. To investigate the shortcomings of unreconstructed eclectic efforts, and to suggest new ways forward, this study rests on a Critical Realist definitional framework, shifting the foundations of studying socialisation to a post positivist premise. Based upon this, the theoretical framework presents rational choice and constructivist accounts of socialisation embedded in an empirically rich analysis along the spectrum of membership, running from applying to a regional community through to maintaining that right once achieved. The combination of empirical, methodological and theoretical innovations suggests a sequence of conclusions. Different types of regional community present different socialisation mechanisms, in different combinations and with different stories of success and failure. Rationalist explanations are revealed to be only part of the socialisation jigsaw when the EU is compared to different examples. Whilst always present, rationally construable processes are potentially joined by member-states pushing forwards their own agendas via the community membership process. Extending our analysis into socialisation once a member reveals the significance of community building dynamics. Community building creates rich discursive environments, where potential future plans compete with each other for dominance. Revising standards also creates the possibility of Social Sanction, Rhetorical Action and Naming and Shaming. The ultimate success or failure of these socialisation efforts rest on a combination of the strength of the norm in question, the mechanisms by which it is promoted and protected and a broader impression that those standards are meant to be binding in the real world.