Hierarchy, revisionism, and subordinate actors

The TPNW and the subversion of the nuclear order

Bibliographic Data

ID6060432
AuthorsNaomi Egel (0000-0002-9049-7975, Stanford University), Steven Ward (0000-0001-6084-2785, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume28
Issue4
Pages751-776
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13540661221112611
OpenAlexW4288067135
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited58

Why and how do weak states challenge the status quo? This article builds on analyses of hierarchy in International Relations to develop a more comprehensive and inclusive understanding of the concept of revisionism. We argue that while weak actors cannot generally directly challenge their position in a stratified hierarchy, they may be able to undermine or subvert the discourses that constitute these hierarchies. This approach is likely to be attractive and feasible under two conditions: when other approaches to reform have been frustrated, and when social and political resources are available to facilitate such subversive challenges. We illustrate this argument by analyzing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as a subversive revisionist project. Small states—frustrated by their inability to negotiate meaningful reform through the status quo framework—partnered with civil society and drew upon discursive resources developed during prior subversive revisionist projects in an effort to stigmatize nuclear weapons and subvert the discourses constituting the advantaged positions of those possessing them. While the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is unlikely to directly persuade nuclear weapon states to abandon their arsenals, it could have unpredictable consequences across a related range of hierarchic fields that constitute the status quo order

Argument (complex analysis) · Economics · Hierarchy · Law and economics · Negotiation · Nuclear weapon · Order (exchange) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Status quo · Subversion · Treaty · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense

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