Findings: Changing and Adapting International Norms and Values

Abstract

Political actors learn from experience as well as from other political actors. They react to experiences by adapting individual norms and values in order to avoid re-experiencing the same challenge. They consolidate their knowledge through independent research in order to apply the adapted norms and values to novel challenges and circumstances. Political actors acknowledge novel international norms and values and actively, though not consciously, incorporate them into their own normative system even without having to experience the original challenge.