The search for dialogue as a hindrance to understanding: practices as inter-paradigmatic research program

Abstract

In a recent article Emanuel Adler and Vincent Pouliot argued that attention to ‘practices’ could help IR scholars overcome ontological gaps and provide a new basis, on which the discipline could be established. Four such dichotomies are particularly salient: between the material and the meaningful, the rational and the practical, between agencies and structures, and between the forces of stability and of change. By failing to provide a theoretical basis for a synthesis, however, this project will fail. What a ‘practice’ is, and how ontological gaps should be understood, cannot be determined outside of the context of a theory. The article reviews theoretical attempts to deal with the dichotomies Adler and Pouliot identified and investigates the role of practices in the study of international relations.

Integrating crisis early warning systems: power in the community of practice

“…Adler and Pouliot certainly have high hopes for this research programme, but some early criticism has already been formulated (Duvall and Chowdhury 2011;Ringmar 2014). Notably, the concept has been described as too vague and its definition too broad (Ringmar 2014, 6).…”

The world is more than a stage: foreign policy, development and spatial performativity in Ethiopia

“…Hameiri and Jones (2016, p. 7) further emphasize that states 'are institutional ensembles that reflect and embed historically evolving social power relations', and under globalization they 'are increasingly fragmented, decentralized and internationalized'. Such approaches are, however, rare and even the recent calls for a turn to 'practice' (Adler & Pouliot, 2011) in the study of foreign policy veer more toward existing performativity approaches that seem unaware of our material existence as they privilege discursive performance (for an eloquent critique of the 'practice turn', see Ringmar, 2014).…”

La « logique du praticable » à l’épreuve de la pratique scientifique

“…Dans un troisième temps, nous examinons le statut des données et de leurs usages dans la logique du praticable. Notre objectif est de formuler des commentaires qui soient utiles (Bueger et Gadinger 2015 ; Schindler et Wille 2015) aux tenants du « virage pratique » (Pouliot et Cornut 2015), en évitant les critiques scolastiques 1 et péremptoires (Ringmar 2014).…”