A Rhetorical Approach to Norm Change

This chapter advances a rhetorical approach to the study of norm emergence and change. We contend that actors often enter into debates with the objective of promoting, and gaining acceptance for, their preferred interpretations of acceptable behaviour rather than generating a new consensus via deliberation. However, as norms are intersubjective social phenomena, they cannot be imposed unilaterally or arbitrarily. We highlight how three classical elements of rhetoric—the speakers, audiences, and arguments—contribute to the development and transformation of international norms and illustrate the argument through a case study of debates over US “enhanced interrogation” and torture during the War on Terror. We conclude our discussion by briefly identifying avenues for further developing this vibrant area of norms research, including by drawing more extensively on insights from psychology and neuroscience, utilising quantitative and mixed methods, and broadening our attention to a more diverse set of actors involved in norm emergence and change.