Klaus Schlichte - Böcker

Non-state armed groups - rebels, guerrillas, militias, liberation movements - not only fight for state power but also for international legitimacy. Why are some armed groups successful in turning the power of the gun into legitimate authority that is internationally recognized while others fail? Contributing to a vibrant scholarly debate, this book is the first comparative study of armed groups that try to gain international legitimacy. It analyses how and when these attempts are successful. The volume presents a new framework for analysing the politics of legitimation that evolve around armed groups. Based on practice theory and global history, it highlights the interaction of practices and publics in the process of legitimation and introduces four different historical times, spanning from 1945 to the present, that have set different structural conditions for armed groups' pursuit of international legitimacy. Armed Groups and the Politics of International Legitimation encompasses in-depth case studies on Indonesia, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Uganda, Angola, Palestine, Afghanistan, and Libya. Written by experts on these contexts, it suggests a research strategy of 'reiterative case comparison' that bridges the gap between political science, history, and sociology. It advances a new theoretical understanding of armed groups as international actors that co-shape international politics and as forces with a genuine quest for legitimacy, which allows us new insights into the fabric of international relations.

State domination in the non-Western world is hallmarked by its constantly shifting character. This stimulating book develops a new approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested. Carefully edited by Klaus Schlichte, this book provides a fresh angle to the study of states with an attempt to 'overcome Weber with Weber'. The approach focuses on the historical authenticity of states and their institutional frameworks, describing the trajectories taken as they react to the effects of changes in their international and local social environments. The emphasis laid on the specific characteristics of individual states does not however lead to the theoretical difficulty of a new contextual relativism. The conceptual design employs sociological categories developed by Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and others.

The past is constantly present, not least in the study of imperialism and imperial forms of power in international politics. This volume shows how historical trajectories have shaped international affairs covering a wide range of imperial and (post-) colonial settings in international politics, substantiating the claim that imperial and colonial legacies - and how they have transformed over time - are foundational to the historicity of international politics. It contributes to debates on the role of history in International Relations (IR) by combining theoretical arguments on the role of history through the concept of 'historicity' with concrete empirical analyses on a wide range of imperial and colonial legacies. This volume also advances interdisciplinary perspectives on this topic by fostering dialogue with Historical Sociology and Global History. It will interest scholars and advanced students of IR, historical sociology and global politics, especially those working on the history of international politics, and the legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

The past is constantly present, not least in the study of imperialism and imperial forms of power in international politics. This volume shows how historical trajectories have shaped international affairs covering a wide range of imperial and (post-) colonial settings in international politics, substantiating the claim that imperial and colonial legacies - and how they have transformed over time - are foundational to the historicity of international politics. It contributes to debates on the role of history in International Relations (IR) by combining theoretical arguments on the role of history through the concept of 'historicity' with concrete empirical analyses on a wide range of imperial and colonial legacies. This volume also advances interdisciplinary perspectives on this topic by fostering dialogue with Historical Sociology and Global History. It will interest scholars and advanced students of IR, historical sociology and global politics, especially those working on the history of international politics, and the legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

This book analyses the foreign policies of African countries, specifically in the region of East Africa.It reveals the regional dynamics and the way in which the international system interacts with these policies and how they are driven by domestic politics versus national visions, and vice versa. As such, it provides fine-grained and historically informed analyses of the international relations of these states arguing that foreign policy is always informed by domestic processes and the relations between states and changes within the international system impact on the formulation of domestic politics via foreign policy. Finally, the book argues that East Africa’s foreign policy is not one of militarised action alone but rather a mélange of self-survival strategies stemming from the desire to close the gap with more industrialised states necessitating a variety of trade and diplomatic efforts.This book is of key interest to scholars and students of African politics, Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Organisations and, more broadly, to comparative politics and international relations.

This book analyses the foreign policies of African countries, specifically in the region of East Africa.It reveals the regional dynamics and the way in which the international system interacts with these policies and how they are driven by domestic politics versus national visions, and vice versa. As such, it provides fine-grained and historically informed analyses of the international relations of these states arguing that foreign policy is always informed by domestic processes and the relations between states and changes within the international system impact on the formulation of domestic politics via foreign policy. Finally, the book argues that East Africa’s foreign policy is not one of militarised action alone but rather a mélange of self-survival strategies stemming from the desire to close the gap with more industrialised states necessitating a variety of trade and diplomatic efforts.This book is of key interest to scholars and students of African politics, Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Organisations and, more broadly, to comparative politics and international relations.

State domination in the non-Western world is hallmarked by its constantly shifting character. This stimulating book develops a new approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested. Carefully edited by Klaus Schlichte, this book provides a fresh angle to the study of states with an attempt to 'overcome Weber with Weber'. The approach focuses on the historical authenticity of states and their institutional frameworks, describing the trajectories taken as they react to the effects of changes in their international and local social environments. The emphasis laid on the specific characteristics of individual states does not however lead to the theoretical difficulty of a new contextual relativism. The conceptual design employs sociological categories developed by Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and others.

This volume offers insights from political anthropology on how to analyze and how to think about contemporary areas of internationalized political phenomena in a fresh manner. By drawing on a variety of cases like policing, budgeting, the role of monetary politics in everyday life, development agencies, and international organisations it shows the promise of an “extended experience” for the study of international politics, yet without glossing over the limits of such approaches. This book is an essential contribution to the discussion about ethnography in international relations and a bridge between disciplines.

This volume offers insights from political anthropology on how to analyze and how to think about contemporary areas of internationalized political phenomena in a fresh manner. By drawing on a variety of cases like policing, budgeting, the role of monetary politics in everyday life, development agencies, and international organisations it shows the promise of an “extended experience” for the study of international politics, yet without glossing over the limits of such approaches. This book is an essential contribution to the discussion about ethnography in international relations and a bridge between disciplines.

Dieses Buch hilft Studierenden, sich Grundfertigkeiten der wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsweise in der Politikwissenschaft anzueignen und zu vervollkommnen.