Global Norms, Local Implementation — How Are Global Norms Translated Into Local Practice?

The literature on the emergence, diffusion, and implementation of human rights norms has highlighted the role of a variety of actors as norm entrepreneurs who introduce and promote new international norms and lobby governments to adopt them. Even though this literature recognizes a diversity of actors as norm transmitters, only national governments are considered as actors in the norm implementation process, and we know relatively little about how sub-national public actors and non-state actors can diffuse and implement norms locally. How can we understand, for example, how cities such as Eugene, Oregon, promote human rights standards locally and mainstream them into their operations? The article begins to develop a framework that can help us address this question and understand the role of sub-national and non-state actors in the process of norm diffusion and implementation and in translating global norms into local practices.