International Norms and Women's Rights in Turkey and Japan

In 1985, the final year of the UN Decade for Women, 20 countries ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In this article we examine the decisions of two non-Western states to ratify the convention as part of this flood of ratification: Japan and Turkey. We find empirical support for the main hypotheses advanced in the literature on norm cascades in international relations, but we also find important evidence that suggests scholars must be sensitive to context in determining which states are “critical” in helping bring about norm cascades.