Discussions of diffusion also draw attention to the internationalization of norms. Norms are generally understood as a standard of appropriate behavior for actors with a given identity. Norms not only constrain behaviour because actors are worried about the costs of doing so; they also constrain behavior because they are connected to a sense of self. Civilized states are expected to avoid settling their difference through violence not because war might not pay but rather because it violates how civilized states are expected to act. These expectations of proper behaviour can diffuse across the population and become institutionalized to the point that they are taken for granted. Human rights activists aspire to reduce human right violations not only by naming and shaming those who violate these right but also by persuading potential violators that the observation of human rights is tied to their identity as a modern, responsible state.
Norms do not simply erupt but rather evolve through a political process. A central issue, therefore, is the internationalization and institutionalization of norms, or what is now called the life cycle of norms (see Box 11.4). Although many international norms have a taken-for-granted quality, they have to come from somewhere and their path to acceptance