Shame, ontological insecurity and intercountry adoption

Abstract

Romania and South Korea were once among the top sending countries for adoptive American families. In recent years, though, both have adopted significant restrictions on intercountry adoption. What leads countries to introduce such severe restrictions? This article argues that shame plays a significant, yet underappreciated, motivating factor for leading governments to change their laws on intercountry adoption. Political leaders seize on nationalist rhetoric to argue that intercountry adoption is shameful. The article explores the interaction between intercountry adoption and shame through brief case studies on Romania and South Korea. Finally, it examines the role of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) in ameliorating these feelings.

Notes

The author wishes to extend his thanks to the anonymous reviewers and editors of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article. Any errors, of course, are solely the responsibility of the author.

¹ There is a robust literature on whether the literature in international relations should treat the state like a person, and it is beyond the scope of this article to resolve the existing debates on this topic. For a more detailed overview of the debate, see the articles from the special forum in Review of International Studies (Jackson 2004; Neumann 2004; Wight 2004; Wendt 2004).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeremy Youde

Jeremy Youde is an associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His recent work has appeared in Politics and the Life Sciences, Global Society and Social Science and Medicine, among other journals. Email: [email protected]