Moral authority as a power resource

For many years the International Relations community has treated the question of why states choose to change the behavior as unproblematic. Rationalist theories of international relations have conditioned us to think that states act only in response to threats and incentives as their capacity to survive in the international system is affected. Not only have recent upheavals within the discipline allowed the reconsideration of these assumptions but the impetus to look at this question has been heightened by what appears to be anomalous state behavior. Press reports and public discussions have strongly suggested that non-state and transnational actors can play a fundamental role in changing state behavior, especially at global issues conferences and in conflict and crisis resolution. There has been very little serious evaluation of the power of transnational moral authorities. On the basis of circumstantial evidence and in light of the theoretical space created by the recent trend in academic international relations to treat the state as a socially constructed actor, this would seem to be a suitable opportunity to explore some ideas about moral authority and its impact on state behavior.; Primarily, my interest is in whether morally authoritative transnational actors can influence state behavior. However, in the course of this inquiry it should also be possible to gauge to what extent moral authority can be used as a power resource. If, for example, states are unwilling to bend to the wishes of a transnational actor then moral authority cannot be considered as an effective power resource, but if states bend readily and quickly then moral authority is clearly a neglected source of leverage that needs to be incorporated into the definition of power. Then, there is always the middle ground, where states are receptive to moral suasion but not to the extent that the transnational actor would desire. From this mixed outcome it is possible to suggest what factors would affect the ability of the transnational actor to use moral authority as a power resource. This will lead to the creation of a new research project to identify the conditions that affect the degree of leverage that transnational actors can exercise over states.