Norm-Centered Constructivism and Cross-Strait Relations: Theory and Practice

This paper examines the important case of cross-Strait relations from the perspective of a major school of International Relations theory, norm-centered social constructivism. It examines the cases of two international conventions, namely, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention, with the aim of determining how they are amenable to calls to further changes. The cross-Strait relationship in the context of these two conventions is relatively productive of international norms of the type that constructivist theory considers important. This is a subject that is of potential importance both to Taiwan and to the international system more generally.