Revealing the hidden

Secrecy, disclosure, and the contestation of normative claims

Bibliographic Data

ID19213887
AuthorsSevsu Önder (0009-0003-3840-289X, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-05-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCooperation and Conflict (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-8367 • E-ISSN: 1460-3691
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00108367261446874
OpenAlexW7162009904
LanguageEN
References cited63

This article explores how hidden contestation of norms can become visible through unauthorized disclosures. Existing constructivist scholarship recognizes contestation as an integral part of the norm life cycle yet focuses on its observable forms such as public statements, explicit non-compliance or formal treaty derogations. As a result, situations where states affirm norms while secretly engaging in practices that depart from their declared commitments are often excluded from scholarly attention and not recognized as contestation. To address this gap, the article conceptualizes these secret practices as covert norm contestation and argues that revelations through espionage and whistleblowing can function as mechanisms making them visible. They provide access to actors who had previously been deliberately excluded from that information. The argument is illustrated through two cases. The first concerns the Stig Wennerström’s espionage affair, which revealed contradictions between Sweden’s long-standing neutrality policy and its secret military cooperation with Western powers during the Cold War. The second is Daniel Ellsberg’s disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, which revealed how US conduct in Vietnam conflicted with its international commitments, including non-intervention, sovereign equality of states, non-use of force, and the peaceful conflict settlement. In both cases, disclosure exposed a gap between declared commitments and actual behavior, unsettling states’ normative self-presentation and altering the terms on which legitimacy and contestation were assessed

Argument (complex analysis) · Covert · Espionage · Legitimacy · Norm (philosophy) · Normative · Scholarship · Sovereignty · Treaty · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies · Global Security and Public Health · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy

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