Semantics of Statebuilding: Language, meanings and sovereignty (Routledge Studies in Intervention and Statebuilding)

ISBN 10: 0415817293 / ISBN 13: 9780415817295

Published by Routledge, 2013

About this Item

This volume examines international state building in terms of language and meanings, rather than focusing narrowly on current policy practices. Most scholarly discussion of statebuilding is about practices; by contrast, this book shifts the weight of attention toward meanings. Editor(s): Lemay-Hebert, Nicolas; Onuf, Nicholas; Rakic, Vojin; Bojanic, Petar. Series: Routledge Studies in Intervention and Statebuilding. Num Pages: 200 pages. BIC Classification: CFGA; GTJ; JPHC; JPS. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 238 x 168 x 17. Weight in Grams: 440. . 2013. 1st Edition. hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780415817295

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Semantics of Statebuilding: Language, meanings and sovereignty (Routledge Studies in Intervention and Statebuilding)
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415817293
• ISBN 13: 9780415817295
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This volume examines international statebuilding in terms of language and meanings, rather than focusing narrowly on current policy practices.

After two decades of evolution towards more ‘integrated,’ ‘multi-faceted’ or, simply stated, more intrusive statebuilding and peacebuilding operations, a critical literature has slowly emerged on the economic, social and political impacts of these interventions. Scholars have started to analyse the ‘unintended consequences’ of peacebuilding missions, analysing all aspects of interventions.

Central to the book is the understanding that language is both the most important tool for building anything of social significance, and the primary repository of meanings in any social setting. Hence, this volume exemplifies how the multiple realities of state, state fragility and statebuilding are being conceptualised in mainstream literature, by highlighting the repercussions this conceptualisation has on ‘good practices’ for statebuilding. Drawing together leading scholars in the field, this project provides a meeting point between constructivism in international relations and the critical perspective on liberal peacebuilding, shedding new light on the commonly accepted meanings and concepts underlying the international (or world) order, as well as the semantics of contemporary statebuilding practices.

This book will be of much interest to students of statebuilding and intervention, war and conflict studies, security studies and international relations.

About the Author

Nicolas Lemay-Hébert is a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham.

Nicholas Onuf is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Florida International University.

Vojin Rakić is Professor of Political Science at the University of Belgrade.

Petar Bojanić is a researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade.