Man versus State: Contested Agency in the United Nations

Schindler, Sebastian

doi:10.1177/0305829814541167

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…We think that its widespread reliance on the Bourdieusian notion of habitus is the main reason why international practice theory has so far struggled with the question of change. 14 For a more general argument about how the same figures of thought structure both the debates of IR and the political practices IR aspires to explain, see Schindler (2014).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Change in and through practice: Pierre Bourdieu, Vincent Pouliot, and the end of the Cold War

Schindler

Wille

2015

Int. Theory

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The end of the Cold War led to intense debates about how change happens in international politics. In this article, we argue that practice theory has great potential for illuminating this question. Drawing on Vincent Pouliot’s empirical analysis of NATO-Russia relations after the end of the Cold War, we elaborate how change happens in and through practice. We show that post-Cold War security practices are inherently unstable, because there is a fundamental uncertainty about whether the Cold War is really over or whether the Cold War logic of bipolar confrontation still applies. Uncertainty about the meaning of the past destabilizes present practices and thus makes sudden and drastic change possible. To date, many contributions to the literature on international practices have, however, failed to grasp the inherent instability of practice. We argue that this failure is due to a particular conception of change that can be found in the works of Pierre Bourdieu. Through a close reading of Pouliot’s Bourdieusian analysis of post-Cold War politics, we demonstrate the limitations of such a perspective, notably that it is unable to grasp how change originates in practice.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 14 For a more general argument about how the same figures of thought structure both the debates of IR and the political practices IR aspires to explain, see Schindler (2014). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in and through practice: Pierre Bourdieu, Vincent Pouliot, and the end of the Cold War

Schindler

Wille

2015

Int. Theory

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“…It treats their theories symmetrically; in other words, on par with our own (academic) theories, yet without subscribing to a general relativism concerning the value of the 21 different world views. In doing so, a reflexive and symmetrical approach helps us to understand how IR's own conceptualizations shape international practices (see Schindler 2014).…”

Section: The Need For a Reflexive And Symmetrical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such an update is not merely of academic interest, but can also help us better understand and, ultimately, address some of the most pressing problems of contemporary international politics. As the contributions to this special issue demonstrate, the question of who can act is often a highly contested political issue, linked to attributions of moral responsibility, legal obligation and political representation (see also Schindler 2014). Studying agency as a practical achievement brings into view an aspect of many conflicts that is too often ignored, namely that they are about the identity and agency of those who are engaged in them (see Ringmar 1996a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Rethinking agency in International Relations: Performativity, performances, and actor-networks

Braun¹,

Schindler²,

Wille³

2017

Preprint

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Abstract:The academic discipline of International Relations (IR) has long pondered the questions of what it means to act in international politics and who can do so. However, the particular way in which IR has approached the problem of agency has somewhat masked important dynamics in international politics. By approaching the question of agency as an analytical problem that needs to be resolved before engaging with empirical material, IR has failed to see that who can act is often uncertain and contested. This special issue examines the emergence of international agency as an empirical phenomenon. Rather than analysing what given agents do, the contributions study how practices, performances and networks create and transform agency. In this introductory article, we prepare the ground for this distinct approach to studying international politics. We review how IR has addressed the problem of agency, and we discuss three social-theoretical traditions that see agency as an emergent phenomenon: poststructuralism, performance studies and actor-network theory. Finally, we highlight four insights that emerge from the contributions and challenge how IR has traditionally imagined agency.

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“…See e.g. Passoth and Rowland (2010) and Schindler (2014). 2 See in particular Doty (1997) for a summary and critique.…”

Section: çO Theo Ry : a Rel Ati O N Al Acco U N T O F Agen Cymentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing piracy: a note on the multiplicity of agency

Bueger

2017

J Int Relat Dev

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Man versus State: Contested Agency in the United Nations

Cited by 11 publications

References 3 publications

Change in and through practice: Pierre Bourdieu, Vincent Pouliot, and the end of the Cold War

Change in and through practice: Pierre Bourdieu, Vincent Pouliot, and the end of the Cold War

Rethinking agency in International Relations: Performativity, performances, and actor-networks

Performing piracy: a note on the multiplicity of agency

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