Anti-Satellite Weapons and Norm Clusters in Space: Dynamics of Contestation, Activation, and Resiliency

Modern advances in the development of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons threaten the safety and sustainability of orbital space operations, and critics charge that government tests of ASAT systems may represent violations of norms embedded in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and follow-on agreements. This study explores how international norm structures for orbital and outer space security offer adaptive mechanisms to respond to applicatory contestation. It develops a multi-stage model of meso-level norm clusters and responses to challenges, including activation, stigmatisation, response, and remediation, and then tests the utility of this model using two case studies of responses to meso-level norm contestation over ASAT weapons. The study concludes that the activation of norm networks appears to provide some level of resiliency for norm structures, allowing them to absorb, diffuse, and even redirect the energy of contestatory challenges toward new norm development for space governance in the 21st century.