Neither convergence nor resistance: A hybridization framework for norm evolution in the digital age

Abstract This article develops a theoretical framework of hybridization to reconceptualize norm diffusion in International Relations. Rather than treating norm diffusion as convergence towards a global standard and deviation as failure or resistance, it theorizes norm uptake as a process of normative recombination, theorizing hybridization as a structured, scope-condition-bound mode of norm evolution. The framework advances a typology of hybrid outcomes, ranging from dominant foreign influence to balanced hybridization to dominant local influence, and identifies key scope conditions explaining their variation, including economic dependency, institutional capacity, geopolitical hedging, and sector-specific dynamics. Empirically, the article applies this framework to a comparative analysis of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, examining how these states engage China’s Digital Silk Road and mediate its embedded political–technological norms. The findings reveal that despite China’s significant infrastructural and economic presence, its normative influence remains so far limited. In particular, cybersecurity governance converges around Western-derived standards with minimal local adaptation, while ethical artificial intelligence governance reflects balanced hybridization shaped by domestic values and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-mediated multilateralism. Hybrid norms are thus not intermediate compromises between global and local models, but structured configurations shaped by institutional capacity, strategic positioning, and transnational contestation.