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 main goals of the NIRT project are:

- 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 partners in this project are:

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

Publications and Outcomes:

International Workshop: Norms, Practice, Normativity

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).

 The project is funded by the Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg for the period February 2017 to June 2018.