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Divergent Accounts of Normativity
Towards a New International Relations Theory (NIRT)
Executive Summary
In times of international crisis social scientists should be able to position themselves vis-à-vis a world that has arguably come out of joint. Yet, particularly those engaging in theory all too often remain silent. A major goal of this project is to counter this silence and encourage more critical engagement with the world. Towards that end, the group addresses the interplay between practice-approaches and normative theory in International Relations Theory. Without a deep understanding of everyday practice and its role in the reproduction of order, quick entries to normative theory are hardly available. Assuming the pitfalls of global order to be visible ‘on the ground,’ the project focuses on crisis as a contradictory process during which the meaning of order becomes subject to contestation. The underlying rationale of the project is thus to scrutinize the configuration of normativity in and through everyday practice.
The project is funded by the Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg for the period February 2017 to June 2018.
Main Goals of the NIRT Project
- Breaking the academic silence on contemporary crises and normative uncertainties,
- Theorizing crisis in normative terms,
- Creating a space for thinking about IR Theory’s normativity,
- Positioning IR Theory towards contemporary practices of crisis governance,
- Strengthening IR Theory with regard to its participation in the emerging field of International Political Theory, and
- Creating a sustainable network of scholars
International Project Partners
- Ole Jacob Sending, Norway, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
- Iver B. Neumann, UK/Norway, London School of Economics (LSE) and Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
- Anna Leander, Denmark, Copenhagen Business School (CBS)
- Stefano Guzzini, Sweden, Uppsala Universitet
Outcomes I: Workshop "Norms, Practice, Normativity" (Hamburg)
International Workshop: Norms, Practice, Normativity (Hamburg)
In the context of a project funded by the Landesforschungsförderung (funding by the state of Hamburg) the Chair of Political Science, especially Global Governance has organized a workshop on the topic of “Norms, Practice, Normativity: Towards a New International Relations Theory.” The workshop took place from November 16-18 at the Centre for Globalisation and Governance. The focus was on the increasingly contestatory international practice in a world that has arguably come out of joint. To this end, participants mainly representing two recent strands of theory in the field of International Relations – critical norms research and international practice theory – discussed about the nexus between normativity and practice, that is, the ongoing contestation of norms and normativity in the course of everyday international practice. As part of the workshop, two keynote speeches were held by Mervyn Frost (King’s College London) and Antje Wiener (Universität Hamburg). Further participants were Jonathan Austin, Jonas Hagmann, Jonathan Havercroft, Maren Hofius, Friedrich Kratochwil, Xymena Kurowska, Anna Leander, Silviya Lechner, Philip Liste, Peter Niesen, Vincent Pouliot, and Jan Wilkens. A publication of the workshop contributions is planned. Moreover, the project serves the end of establishing an international network of scholars to cooperate in a future collaborative research initiative.
Please find further information about the workshop, including the programme, on our website (Link to News).
Outcomes II: Workshop "Practice-Normativity Nexus in IR Theory" (Geneva)
Workshop from 15-16 June 2018 at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
In times of crisis and normative uncertainty political scientists should be able to position themselves vis-à-vis a world which has arguably come out of joint. This holds true also for International Relations (IR) theorists whose research targets sectorial crises like in the areas of finance, refugee politics, and security on the one hand, and normative crises on the core liberal norms such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law, on the other. When faced with such crises and challenges, social scientists should be ready to reflect their normative position and provide knowledge that can reduce uncertainty, enlighten the public, and provide knowledge-based assessments of the pros and cons of different courses of action. Yet, social scientists often remain hesitant, silent or absent in debates about how to meet these types of challenges.
The workshop aims to explore the interplay between practice-approaches and critical norms studies in IR Theory. While both work with a ‘practice-based’ understanding of (normative) change, their research assumptions, tools and expectations are developed from quite distinctly different standpoints. We contend that while both matter for studying current crises in world politics, they have largely been developed apart.
The workshop brings together scholars attempting to narrow the gap by advancing avenues towards the practice-normativity nexus by addressing the questions that move beyond the empirical task of studying how norms are applied in practice. We are interested in how normativity evolves, how such processes can be studied, and what normative implications this may have.
The workshop takes place from June 15-16, 2018 at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland. The workshop is organized in the context the “New International Relations Theory” (NIRT) collaborative research project, which founded by the Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg. The core group of scholars includes scholars from University of Hamburg, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Uppsala University, and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.