Lucrecia García Iommi

Lucrecia García Iommi

Lucrecia García Iommi is Associate Professor of Political Science at Fairfield University, where she teaches International Relations (IR) theory, U.S. foreign policy, and international law. Her research focuses on IR theory, norm dynamics, and global governance. She has published in International Studies Quarterly, International Relations, Global Constitutionalism and Cambridge Review of International Affairs. Most recently, she co-edited (with Richard W. Maass) The United States and International Law: Paradoxes of Support across Contemporary Issues (University of Michigan Press, 2022).

Lucrecia García Iommi

Indeterminacy, Uncertain Contexts and the Dual Nature of Norms

by Lucrecia García Iommi | 8 December, 2022 | International Norms in a Time of Uncertainty, International Organization, Security, Theory & Methods

When it comes norm dynamics and how we theorize them, uncertainty presents something of a paradox. We study norms because we think that they matter. But if norms are inherently uncertain, then how is it possible that they constitute, constrain, and otherwise shape the behavior of global actors? Unless norms produce stable and defined expectations, then how can they have the power to structure international politics?

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