ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Norwegian United Nations policy, and argues that it is a central arena for Norwegian efforts to be recognized by others. Foreign policy is about the advancement of national interest. As operationalized in and through diplomatic practice, this legitimizes and renders appropriate certain types of strategic behaviour in the pursuit of these interests. Multilateral settings put a premium on behaviour that is in keeping with a commitment to the furtherance and expansion of the rules established by multilateral cooperation and organizations. The challenge is to tease out the social logics of how and why status is sought and bestowed, according to shared rules and norms, while also shedding light on how states are instrumental in seeking status, and utilizing it. All states are formally equal under international law. But international law predates the formulation of the principle of sovereign equality set out in the Four Powers Declaration of 1943.
