The Play of International Practice
01 Sep 2015-International Studies Quarterly (Wiley/ Oxford University Press (OUP))-Vol. 59, Iss: 3, pp 449-460
TL;DR: The core claims of the practice turn in International Relations (IR) remain ambiguous as discussed by the authors, and it is worth noting that practice approaches entail a distinctive view on the drivers of social relations, arguing against individualistic-interest and norm-based actor models.
Abstract: The core claims of the practice turn in International Relations (IR) remain ambiguous. What promises does international practice theory hold for the field? How does the kind of theorizing it produces differ from existing perspectives? What kind of research agenda does it produce? This article addresses these questions. Drawing on the work of Andreas Reckwitz, we show that practice approaches entail a distinctive view on the drivers of social relations. Practice theories argue against individualistic-interest and norm-based actor models. They situate knowledge in practice rather than “mental frames” or “discourse.” Practice approaches focus on how groups perform their practical activities in world politics to renew and reproduce social order. They therefore overcome familiar dualisms—agents and structures, subjects and objects, and ideational and material—that plague IR theory. Practice theories are a heterogeneous family, but, as we argue, share a range of core commitments. Realizing the promise of the practice turn requires considering the full spectrum of its approaches. However, the field primarily draws on trajectories in international practice theory that emphasize reproduction and hierarchies. It should pay greater attention to practice approaches rooted in pragmatism and that emphasize contingency and change. We conclude with an outline of core challenges that the future agenda of international practice theory must tackle.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the promises of the concept of societal multiplicity as a deep ontology for IR as a discipline and argue that a key promise consists in the proposed ontology's qualitative and quantitative dimensions as drivers of international relations practice and theory.
Abstract: Following this workshop’s discussion of Rosenberg’s emphasis on societal multiplicity, this contribution discusses how and why this might generate an added value for IR as a discipline. To that end, it explores the promises of the concept of societal multiplicity as a deep ontology. It is argued that a key promise consists in the proposed ontology’s qualitative (‘more than one kind’) and quantitative (‘more than one’) dimensions as drivers of international relations practice and theory. Both drivers work across societal boundaries and within societies alike, thereby developing interrelated and mutually reinforcing dynamics. Programmatically, the promises of societal multiplicity remain to be explored with reference to Rosenberg’s five potential consequences (i.e. co-existence, difference, interaction, combination, and dialectical change. Specifically, a central promise lies in its potential to fill the research gap which consists of the absence of social contract theory (i.e. as offering the conceptual angle on the ‘unbound’ quality of fundamental norms, based on the ‘politics of recognition’) for legitimate global governance. Here, societal multiplicity sheds light on societal negotiations of values, thereby adding to extant practice and agency-based theories of international ordering. This article illustrates the point with reference to the subfield of norms research. It shows how extant concepts of political practices vis-a-vis norms stand to benefit from applying societal multiplicity insofar as it targets the contingency of international ordering through societal interaction. This matters because societal and political ordering in a globalised space does not begin from a given ‘liberal community’ (top-down) but from a socially constructed emerging set of orders (bottom-up). The argument is presented in four sections. Section 1 presents the turn towards societal multiplicity as a deep ontology in order to address the absence of social contract theory in IR. It identifies a gap between the ‘use’ of fundamental norms for global governance purposes, on the one hand, and the ‘contestations’ of their implementation by affected stakeholders, on the other. Section 2 addresses the point of re-establishing IR as a lone standing discipline in the social sciences. Against the current state of a fragmented discipline, it asks how a shift towards societal multiplicity might work towards countering that fragmentation. Section 3 turns to the norms research literature. To illustrate the argument it explores potential pathways towards filling the gap between state-mediated and locally contested norms of global governance. Section 4 concludes with an outlook towards framing the crisis of international law as a value based.
3 citations
TL;DR: The authors identify four distinct communities in the overall NGO network, with differences in distributions of brokerage roles across communities, and examine the communities, brokerage role distributions, and preexisting power disparities.
Abstract:
Transnational advocacy networks (TANs) are the most common example of networks in international relations. Despite their familiarity, we know little about how advocacy networks of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are structured. Drawing on the cross-disciplinary concepts of emergent communities and distinct brokerage roles, we argue that the network may reinforce power disparities and inequalities at the very same time that it provides social power. TANs are similar to emergent communities of practice, with some organizations acting as various types of brokers within and between communities. Preexisting resources are more likely to lead global North organizations to occupy brokerage roles that provide additional agenda-setting and resource-allocating power. We build a dataset of the 3,903 NGOs connected through 1.3 million ties occurring through meetings and conferences for NGOs put on or coordinated by the United Nations. Using community detection methods, we identify four distinct communities in the overall NGO network, with differences in distributions of brokerage roles across communities. Examining the communities, brokerage role distributions, and preexisting power disparities can help us better understand the divergent findings in previous literature and conceptualize TANs.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article , three concepts inspired by Bourdieu's work are introduced: hexis, emotional sense, and emotional performance, which are used to make sense of emojis in digital exchanges.
Abstract:
This article suggests a new approach for looking at emotions. In the framework that is developed, emotions are practices that are performed in context and not only felt or had. On the theoretical side, three concepts inspired by Bourdieu's work are introduced: hexis, emotional sense, and emotional performance. On the methodological side, this framework is used to make sense of emojis in digital exchanges. Emojis are the literal display of an emotion “on paper”—or rather, on screen—and constitute a simplified way to read the emotional communication between individuals. They are not epiphenomenal. Given the widespread use of instant messaging applications, they are an accessible and effective means for individuals to perform emotions. In turn, this framework opens up the possibility to analyze better how and why mundane emotions matter in international politics. How diplomats use emojis on WhatsApp during negotiations at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva serves as an illustration. Often perceived as guided by rational calculations, diplomats also master informal and interpersonal skills to persuade, negotiate, and build connections. This fundamental social dimension of diplomatic work puts their (online) emotional practices at the center of their performances.
2 citations
12 Aug 2021
TL;DR: The authors argued that in the study of international relations and particularly regarding institutions, area studies approaches should be more frequently adopted, arguing that limited use of these approaches not only hampers new research but also hides a colonial hangover.
Abstract: Data curated by humans reflects the biases and imperfections of humans (O’Neil, 2017; 2016). For example, in autonomous weapons systems, the initial data entered produces algorithms from which weapons systems learn, and, as a result, the systems mirror and amplify existing biases in the data sets (O’Neil, 2017). In political science and international relations, biases are also both inherent and amplified through the research approaches and methods adopted. They, too, are frequently hidden. A stark example of this is in the debate between area and disciplinary studies. Although there is a growing recognition that area studies can make valuable contributions to the study of international relations and that there is a need to ‘decolonise’ the discipline (Suzuki, 2021), the debate so far has not recognized the gulf of differences in research methods between these two approaches. This article argues that in the study of international relations and particularly regarding institutions, area studies approaches should be more frequently adopted. The limited use of these approaches not only hampers new research but also hides a colonial hangover.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the societal multiplicity proposition as a welcome conceptual proposition for IR, arguing that against the background of the discipline's trajectory and especially Adler's call for a turn towards "the social" in the 1990s, Rosenberg's proposition offers a nudge towards scrutinising concepts for a more concise and systematic appreciation of society multiplicity as a source of knowledge production in a globalised world.
Abstract: This article discusses the societal multiplicity proposition as a welcome conceptual proposition for IR. First, it argues that against the background of the discipline’s trajectory and especially Adler’s call for a turn towards ‘the social’ in the 1990s, Rosenberg’s proposition offers a nudge towards scrutinising concepts for a more concise and systematic appreciation of societal multiplicity as a source of knowledge production in a globalised world. Second, this is illustrated with reference to the challenge of building global governance from below as the international liberal order stands contested and alliances are re-negotiated. Third, it demonstrates why during this period of global change it is key to diversify sources of meaning-making and the conceptual categories to reflect this diversification. And fourth, it turns to practices of contestation as drivers of inter-societal negotiations that target both established fundamental norms of global governance (e.g. the rule of law, human rights, and democracy) and more recently, negotiated fundamental norms (e.g. climate justice, gender justice, or intergenerational justice). The article concludes that a conceptual shift from the agency of states and their representatives as carriers of knowledge and mediators of normative change towards engaging societal agency represents a welcome contribution.
2 citations
References
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TL;DR: Identity in practice, modes of belonging, participation and non-participation, and learning communities: a guide to understanding identity in practice.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the difficulty of being an ANT and the difficulties of tracing the social networks of a social network and how to re-trace the social network.
Abstract: Introduction: How to Resume the Task of Tracing Associations PART I: HOW TO DEPLOY CONTROVERSIES ABOUT THE SOCIAL WORLD 1 Learning to Feed from Controversies 2 First Source of Uncertainty: No Group, Only Group Formation 3 Second Source of Uncertainty: Action is Overtaken 4 Third Source of Uncertainty: Objects Too Have Agency 5 Fourth Source of Uncertainty: Matters of Fact vs Matters of Concern 6 Fifth Source of Uncertainty: Writing Down Risky Accounts 7 On the Difficulty of Being an ANT - An Interlude in Form of a Dialog PART II: HOW TO RENDER ASSOCIATIONS TRACEABLE AGAIN 8 Why is it So Difficult to Trace the Social? 9 How to Keep the Social Flat 10 First Move: Localizing the Global 11 Second Move: Redistributing the Local 12 Third Move: Connecting Sites 13 Conclusion: From Society to Collective - Can the Social be Reassembled?
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5,646 citations
TL;DR: The main characteristics of practice theory, a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others, are discussed in this paper.
Abstract: This article works out the main characteristics of `practice theory', a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others. Practice theory is presented as a conceptual alternative to other forms of social and cultural theory, above all to culturalist mentalism, textualism and intersubjectivism. The article shows how practice theory and the three other cultural-theoretical vocabularies differ in their localization of the social and in their conceptualization of the body, mind, things, knowledge, discourse, structure/process and the agent.
4,669 citations