| This dissertation explores the complex relationship between state identity, foreign policy, and systemic norm diffusion. Based on an empirical examination of the international military response to the humanitarian crises associated with the Yugoslav wars of secession (1991--1995), Somali civil war and famine (1991--1993), Rwandan genocide (1994), and Zairian refugee crisis (1996), I contend that a state's foreign policy is primarily a product of its international identity. The country case studies (Canada, France, and the United States) are not merely isolated narratives. Drawing on the logic of 'system effects' analysis, with its emphasis on the role of feedback and indirect effects, I then situate each state within the larger systemic narrative, highlighting the systemic normative consequences of each state's policy choices. In addition to demonstrating that states from outside the great power club can exert significant international normative influence (a heretofore unexplored phenomenon), the study paints a much clearer picture than presently exists about the possibilities for, and limits to, ethical normative evolution in world politics. |
