Transformation Intervention Of Transnational Initiative Network: Humiliation Pressure And Internalization Of International Norms

Emotional factors are gradually becoming a significant facet of the contemporarystudies of International Politics. This paper aims to explore the causal link betweenpublic humiliation campaigns by transnational advocacy networks and theinternalization of international norms, and consists of three parts, i.e. conceptualelaboration, theoretical inference and empirical verification.In the conceptual elaboration part, this paper brings forward the idea of a"transformational systemic intervention" approach adopted by transnational advocacynetworks on the basis of Virginia Satir’s psychological concept of "transformationalsystemic therapy".In the theoretical inference part, this paper first argues that the five sub-assumptionsof transnational advocacy networks’"transformational systemic intervention"construct the causal link between an actor’s autognosis and its reactionary posture onthe one hand, and that the mechanism of transnational advocacy networks’"transformational systemic intervention" constructs the causal link between an actor’sexternal pressure exposure and its internal sentiment of humiliation on the other.Based on the above analyses, the paper moves on to present its core argument thathumiliation campaigns by transnational advocacy networks can lead to positivechanges in actors’ autognosis and reactionary posture by arousing sentiments ofhumiliation, which, in the realm of foreign policy, is reflected in the internalization ofthe international norms promoted by transnational advocacy networks.Lastly, empirical verification will be conducted through a study of the internalizationof democratic norms by the Burmese military government. Over the decades after thejunta took power in1962, democracy failed to take root in Burma amid internationalsanctions and internal instability. Since the1990s, however, technologicaladvancements and improvements in the speed and effectiveness of the spread ofinformation have opened a new channel for transnational advocacy networks.Through explicit criticism and public humiliation, transnational advocacy networkssuccessfully exerted pressure on the Burmese military government by arousingfeelings of shame, and effectively pushed for the acceptance of democratic norms bythe military government. Thus, the presumed casual link between public humiliationand the internalization of international norms is verified.