Mapping outer space norms: a user’s guide for norm structures and change

Earth orbit has become increasingly crowded, threatening fragile space systems and the natural environment. These challenges are generating an acute need to assess international norms regulating outer space security, safety, and sustainability. This article has two objectives. First, we systematically survey the contemporary international norm architecture of outer space, filling a gap in the academic literature by bringing outer space law and governance into dialogue with contemporary IR norms research. To do so, we refine Lantis and Wunderlich’s three-dimensional (3D) norm framework to demonstrate how space activities are governed by norms across three interconnected structural dimensions: individual policy norms, norm clusters, and foundational meta-norms. Second, we demonstrate the utility of the 3D framework to understand the dynamic relationship between norm structures and agency by detailing prominent contemporary initiatives where actors are leveraging vertical and horizontal norm synergies to interpret and reinforce existing norms and promote new norms to regulate outer space mining and anti-satellite weapons.