Jonathan Joseph | University of Bristol (original) (raw)

Papers by Jonathan Joseph

Research paper thumbnail of A promise not fulfilled: The (non) implementation of the resilience turn in EU peacebuilding

Routledge eBooks, Dec 17, 2020

The article provides a critical overview of the rise of resilience at the European Union (EU) lev... more The article provides a critical overview of the rise of resilience at the European Union (EU) level and to what extent its adoption is reshaping the terms of the EU's peacebuilding interventions. In reaction to the perceived shortcomings of the "liberal peace" approach, international actors, including the EU, are now describing their interventions through a new resilience discourse. The article argues that resilience offers a four-fold contribution to promoting sustainable peace: 1) a focus on complexity; 2) a systems approach; 3) a shift toward local capacities; and 4) an emphasis on human agency. It then applies this framework to assess the implementation of the EU's "resilience turn" since the adoption of the EU Global Strategy in 2016. Focusing on the EU's discourse and its peacebuilding practices in the Western Balkans, the evidence suggests that the EU has only embraced a systems/integrated approach, while neglecting deeper understandings of complexity, local capacities and human agency. As a result, the contribution of resilience to EU peacebuilding remains limited.

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond Relationalism in Peacebuilding

This conclusion notes the rise of relationalism in theorising peacebuilding and the advantages of... more This conclusion notes the rise of relationalism in theorising peacebuilding and the advantages of this approach as evident in the contributions to this special issue. Nevertheless, it cautions against such a move and in particular, some of the ontological and epistemological consequences of the relational turn as evident in recent poststructuralism, postcolonial approaches and practice theory. It contrasts this with the critical realist approachwhose relationalism has been ignored by the current turnallowing both relationalism and a belief in objectivity and preference for certain knowledge claims.

Research paper thumbnail of Combining Hegemony and Governmentality to Explain Global Governance

DergiPark (Istanbul University), Jun 1, 2014

This article looks at the possibility of a meaningful relationship between the concepts of hegemo... more This article looks at the possibility of a meaningful relationship between the concepts of hegemony and governmentality. It does this by applying the combined concepts to the realm of international relations and to issues of global governance. It interrogates the two concepts by looking at the conditions of possibility and modes of expression. It does this through a critical realist approach to social reality, arguing that hegemony and governmentality operate within a structures and stratified social field where they intersect and overlap. It argues that the two concepts have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hegemony is better at relating governance to underlying social relations and it emphasises the longer-term strategic element in governance projects. Governmentality is better at highlighting the rationalities that underlie forms of governance. Hegemony better helps us to understand such things as institutional context, the role of social and class forces, how particular interests are represented and how political projects are constructed. Governmentality is much better at showing us the specific techniques and technologies of power. While hegemony might provide the better link to the social context, governmentality better shows how this finds its expression in particular forms of governance. These arguments are applied to neoliberal forms of governance and used to analyse the changing role of the state in international politics. The article addresses issues of structure and agency and poses the question of how governance is constructed.

Research paper thumbnail of Conceptual politics and resilience-at-work in the European Union

Review of International Studies

International crises, most recently the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, often... more International crises, most recently the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, often radically change our view of the world and our place within it. The European Union (EU) has been particularly impacted by these developments because these crises have accentuated some of its ontological and epistemological uncertainties and insecurities. While the EU’s resilience turn initiated by the EU Global Strategy of 2016 aimed at strengthening the EU’s ability to prepare and recover from external shocks and crises, since then, the concept of resilience has undergone a transformation. In recent years, we have seen the EU turning back in on itself and abandoning the radical aspects of resilience. Hence a paradox has emerged – the more complex the problems faced by the EU, the more it turns away from the logics of complexity present in the idea of resilience. In this article, we examine this conceptual shift through the lenses of concepts in action and the way these have reflected c...

Research paper thumbnail of Governing through Failure and Denial: The New Resilience Agenda

Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2016

This article sets out a new way of understanding how resilience works as a form of governmentalit... more This article sets out a new way of understanding how resilience works as a form of governmentality with specific focus on international interventions. It argues that resilience governs though failure and denial, suggesting that it builds on both failures to govern complex systems and past failures of intervention, in order to promote a new governance through denial that further shifts responsibility onto the governed. It suggests that resilience, rather than being a radical new approach, fits with existing discourse and practices, but offers something new in terms of its approach to knowledge, the social, and the human. Running this through the themes of failure and denial, the article suggests that resilience offers certain possibilities for human action, but that its emancipatory potential is largely constrained by the way it limits how we understand the bigger picture. This is explored in relation to international interventions and the way that resilience contributes to global go...

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding populist politics in Turkey: a hegemonic depth approach

Review of International Studies, 2019

The aim of this article is to understand populism as a hegemonic project involving a struggle for... more The aim of this article is to understand populism as a hegemonic project involving a struggle for power between different social forces. We take a critical realist approach in defining populism. This implies several things. We develop a new approach to understanding populist politics by taking neither a purely discursive (Laclau), nor a solely structural (Poulantzas), but a critical realist approach and analysing the three-way relationship between structural conditions, agency, and institutional framework. Second, it implies that populist politics is composed of complex and often contradictory dynamics and emergent features involving mainly domestic but also international processes. We develop this through a combination of three concepts – passive revolution, hegemonic depth, and partial hegemony. These indicate how a hegemonic project is situated in deeper social relations and how hegemonic leadership responds to this. We take the policies of AKP government in Turkey as a case in p...

Research paper thumbnail of 978-1107-14657-0 — Varieties of Resilience

found across other international organisations. A comparison between European and American (e.g.,... more found across other international organisations. A comparison between European and American (e.g., United States Agency for International Development-USAID) approaches inds remarkable similarity. The new development agenda is discussed and related to the governmentality approach. This is developed in Chapter 5 and the Conclusion which tie together the issues of resilience, governance and governmentality. These inal two chapters are more conceptual, but draw on the empirical evidence of the previous sections. The Conclusion summarises the main indings and suggests possible future research agendas.

Research paper thumbnail of Resilience Turn in German Development Strategy and Humanitarian InterventionThe

Resilience has emerged as a key theme in recent policy making. It spans a range of policy fields ... more Resilience has emerged as a key theme in recent policy making. It spans a range of policy fields from infrastructure protection through to humanitarian intervention. This Research Paper looks at resilience as a theme of development strategy and humanitarian intervention and examines how it has emerged in German policy making. It argues that the dominant approach to resilience is a form of neoliberal governmentality that seeks to govern populations from a distance, devolve responsibility to people and communities, promote market mechanisms, encourage entrepreneurial behaviour and promote adaptation innovation and transformation among traditional communities. However, it is also recognised that this is a strongly Anglo-Saxon approach, targeted at specific individuals and communities. The purpose of the paper is to consider the extent to which German policy making is simply a reflection of this dominant Anglo-Saxon approach, or whether there is a more distinctive German view of resilie...

Research paper thumbnail of Hegemony and international relations

Research paper thumbnail of The EU’s Promotion of more Resilient European Societies:: Anglo-Saxon or European?

Research paper thumbnail of The Development of Resilience

Research paper thumbnail of The Emergence of Resilience in German Policy Making: An Anglo-Saxon Phenomenon?

Resilience in Social, Cultural and Political Spheres, 2019

In this chapter it is argued that resilience is a strongly Anglo-Saxon idea which is, nonetheless... more In this chapter it is argued that resilience is a strongly Anglo-Saxon idea which is, nonetheless, gaining influence in other countries, albeit in selected areas. Focusing on its emergence in two different areas of German policy making—national infrastructure protection and overseas disaster and humanitarian intervention—we here compare German understandings of resilience with the more established discourse in the UK and US. Here we will look at differences of emphasis in the German and Anglo-Saxon approaches to infrastructure resilience as well as identifying similarities, particularly in overseas intervention where an Anglo-Saxon approach is more widely accepted by the main actors in the field.

Research paper thumbnail of The International as Emergent: Challenging Old and New Orthodoxies in International Relations Theory

Scientific Realism and International Relations, 2010

This contribution challenges the way that IR has traditionally set up its field of analysis and i... more This contribution challenges the way that IR has traditionally set up its field of analysis and in particular the framework of system/unit. This framework has been reinforced by the work of neo-realism and the levels of analysis debate to the point where it is accepted even by many critical IR scholars. By and large the international has come to be defined as a structure or a system, while the units may range from individuals to states. This distinction runs parallel to other (perhaps more methodological) oppositions such as holism/individualism and macro/microtheory. While there are many debates as to where to place the emphasis, there are not so many debates about such distinctions themselves. This essay is concerned with showing how we might question such a way of seeing things and examines the Marxist tradition to see how things might be conceptualised differently. The first section will criticise IR approaches while the second will explore Marxist approaches. By switching attention to Marxism it can be shown how issues raised within IR such as reductionism have quite different meanings elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Realism: Essential Readings Margaret Archer, Roy Bhaskar, Andrew Collier, Tony Lawson and Alan Norrie (editors) London and New York: Routledge, 1998

Historical Materialism, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of The limits of practice: why realism can complement IR’s practice turn

International Theory, 2017

This paper argues that the current calls for a practice turn in International Relations (IR) whil... more This paper argues that the current calls for a practice turn in International Relations (IR) while positive in many respects, are problematic and potentially limiting because they are premised on a confused understanding of the role of philosophy and realist philosophy in particular and a restricted view of the role of sociological investigation. This arises from the problematic tendency to lapse into advocacy of an anti-realist philosophical and sociological imagination. We suggest that the problems that practice theorists point to should lead not to knee-jerk anti-realism but rather can motivate a reinvigorated conversation with realism. This entails revisiting the role of philosophy, realism, and sociology in the study of practices. We argue that far from being antithetical to practice theory, a reconsideration of realist philosophy helps make sense of the role of practice and provides those advocating practice theory with better tools to deal with the challenges which motivated ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Hegemony of Governmentality: Towards a Research Agenda

All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace, 2017

This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of ... more This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of hegemony and governmentality in the study of world politics. It is argued that certain forms of governmentality are 'strategically selected' and form part of hegemonic strategies while hegemonic strategies are enhanced by techniques of governmentality. It is also important to look at the underlying context that allows for micro practices to be 'colonised' by macro actors and which drives such actors to use such techniques. The theory of hegemony is seen as better at highlighting the context in which strategic action takes place, while governmentality is better at showing the workings of the technologies and techniques that are deployed by strategies of governing. Hegemony and governmentality therefore form part of the back and forth between macro and micro, structure and agency, institution and practice, highlighting different aspects of this constant interaction.

Research paper thumbnail of The Social in the Global: Introduction

Research paper thumbnail of Realism and hegemony

Research paper thumbnail of European integration in crisis? Of supranational integration, hegemonic projects and domestic politics

European Journal of International Relations, 2016

The European Union is facing multiple challenges. Departing from mainstream theory, this article ... more The European Union is facing multiple challenges. Departing from mainstream theory, this article adopts a fresh approach to understanding integration. It does so by taking two theoretical steps. The first introduces the structure–agency debate in order to make explicit the relationship between macro-structures, the institutional arrangements at European Union level and agency. The second proposes that the state of integration should be understood as the outcome of contestation between competing hegemonic projects that derive from underlying social processes and that find their primary expression in domestic politics. These two steps facilitate an analysis of the key areas of contestation in the contemporary European Union, illustrated by an exploration of the current crisis in the European Union, and open up the development of an alternative, critical, theory of integration.

Research paper thumbnail of Decoupling local ownership? The lost opportunities for grassroots women’s involvement in Liberian peacebuilding

Cooperation and Conflict

Civil society organizations and grassroots groups are often unable to play an active role in post... more Civil society organizations and grassroots groups are often unable to play an active role in post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding. A possible explanation for the observed challenges in peacebuilding is the gap or decoupling between international expectations and norms from practical action, local norms and capacities. External actors are often overly instrumental and operate according to a general template that fails to start from what the local capacities might actually be. This often leads to the decoupling of general values from practical action, which helps account for the observed barriers of engaging local civil and community organizations in reconstruction. We examine the different types of decoupling and the challenges these present. We evaluate our general theoretical argument using evidence based on the experiences of Liberian women’s civil society organizations. Given the compliance of the Liberian government with international norms, we should expect external a...

Research paper thumbnail of A promise not fulfilled: The (non) implementation of the resilience turn in EU peacebuilding

Routledge eBooks, Dec 17, 2020

The article provides a critical overview of the rise of resilience at the European Union (EU) lev... more The article provides a critical overview of the rise of resilience at the European Union (EU) level and to what extent its adoption is reshaping the terms of the EU's peacebuilding interventions. In reaction to the perceived shortcomings of the "liberal peace" approach, international actors, including the EU, are now describing their interventions through a new resilience discourse. The article argues that resilience offers a four-fold contribution to promoting sustainable peace: 1) a focus on complexity; 2) a systems approach; 3) a shift toward local capacities; and 4) an emphasis on human agency. It then applies this framework to assess the implementation of the EU's "resilience turn" since the adoption of the EU Global Strategy in 2016. Focusing on the EU's discourse and its peacebuilding practices in the Western Balkans, the evidence suggests that the EU has only embraced a systems/integrated approach, while neglecting deeper understandings of complexity, local capacities and human agency. As a result, the contribution of resilience to EU peacebuilding remains limited.

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond Relationalism in Peacebuilding

This conclusion notes the rise of relationalism in theorising peacebuilding and the advantages of... more This conclusion notes the rise of relationalism in theorising peacebuilding and the advantages of this approach as evident in the contributions to this special issue. Nevertheless, it cautions against such a move and in particular, some of the ontological and epistemological consequences of the relational turn as evident in recent poststructuralism, postcolonial approaches and practice theory. It contrasts this with the critical realist approachwhose relationalism has been ignored by the current turnallowing both relationalism and a belief in objectivity and preference for certain knowledge claims.

Research paper thumbnail of Combining Hegemony and Governmentality to Explain Global Governance

DergiPark (Istanbul University), Jun 1, 2014

This article looks at the possibility of a meaningful relationship between the concepts of hegemo... more This article looks at the possibility of a meaningful relationship between the concepts of hegemony and governmentality. It does this by applying the combined concepts to the realm of international relations and to issues of global governance. It interrogates the two concepts by looking at the conditions of possibility and modes of expression. It does this through a critical realist approach to social reality, arguing that hegemony and governmentality operate within a structures and stratified social field where they intersect and overlap. It argues that the two concepts have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hegemony is better at relating governance to underlying social relations and it emphasises the longer-term strategic element in governance projects. Governmentality is better at highlighting the rationalities that underlie forms of governance. Hegemony better helps us to understand such things as institutional context, the role of social and class forces, how particular interests are represented and how political projects are constructed. Governmentality is much better at showing us the specific techniques and technologies of power. While hegemony might provide the better link to the social context, governmentality better shows how this finds its expression in particular forms of governance. These arguments are applied to neoliberal forms of governance and used to analyse the changing role of the state in international politics. The article addresses issues of structure and agency and poses the question of how governance is constructed.

Research paper thumbnail of Conceptual politics and resilience-at-work in the European Union

Review of International Studies

International crises, most recently the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, often... more International crises, most recently the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, often radically change our view of the world and our place within it. The European Union (EU) has been particularly impacted by these developments because these crises have accentuated some of its ontological and epistemological uncertainties and insecurities. While the EU’s resilience turn initiated by the EU Global Strategy of 2016 aimed at strengthening the EU’s ability to prepare and recover from external shocks and crises, since then, the concept of resilience has undergone a transformation. In recent years, we have seen the EU turning back in on itself and abandoning the radical aspects of resilience. Hence a paradox has emerged – the more complex the problems faced by the EU, the more it turns away from the logics of complexity present in the idea of resilience. In this article, we examine this conceptual shift through the lenses of concepts in action and the way these have reflected c...

Research paper thumbnail of Governing through Failure and Denial: The New Resilience Agenda

Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2016

This article sets out a new way of understanding how resilience works as a form of governmentalit... more This article sets out a new way of understanding how resilience works as a form of governmentality with specific focus on international interventions. It argues that resilience governs though failure and denial, suggesting that it builds on both failures to govern complex systems and past failures of intervention, in order to promote a new governance through denial that further shifts responsibility onto the governed. It suggests that resilience, rather than being a radical new approach, fits with existing discourse and practices, but offers something new in terms of its approach to knowledge, the social, and the human. Running this through the themes of failure and denial, the article suggests that resilience offers certain possibilities for human action, but that its emancipatory potential is largely constrained by the way it limits how we understand the bigger picture. This is explored in relation to international interventions and the way that resilience contributes to global go...

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding populist politics in Turkey: a hegemonic depth approach

Review of International Studies, 2019

The aim of this article is to understand populism as a hegemonic project involving a struggle for... more The aim of this article is to understand populism as a hegemonic project involving a struggle for power between different social forces. We take a critical realist approach in defining populism. This implies several things. We develop a new approach to understanding populist politics by taking neither a purely discursive (Laclau), nor a solely structural (Poulantzas), but a critical realist approach and analysing the three-way relationship between structural conditions, agency, and institutional framework. Second, it implies that populist politics is composed of complex and often contradictory dynamics and emergent features involving mainly domestic but also international processes. We develop this through a combination of three concepts – passive revolution, hegemonic depth, and partial hegemony. These indicate how a hegemonic project is situated in deeper social relations and how hegemonic leadership responds to this. We take the policies of AKP government in Turkey as a case in p...

Research paper thumbnail of 978-1107-14657-0 — Varieties of Resilience

found across other international organisations. A comparison between European and American (e.g.,... more found across other international organisations. A comparison between European and American (e.g., United States Agency for International Development-USAID) approaches inds remarkable similarity. The new development agenda is discussed and related to the governmentality approach. This is developed in Chapter 5 and the Conclusion which tie together the issues of resilience, governance and governmentality. These inal two chapters are more conceptual, but draw on the empirical evidence of the previous sections. The Conclusion summarises the main indings and suggests possible future research agendas.

Research paper thumbnail of Resilience Turn in German Development Strategy and Humanitarian InterventionThe

Resilience has emerged as a key theme in recent policy making. It spans a range of policy fields ... more Resilience has emerged as a key theme in recent policy making. It spans a range of policy fields from infrastructure protection through to humanitarian intervention. This Research Paper looks at resilience as a theme of development strategy and humanitarian intervention and examines how it has emerged in German policy making. It argues that the dominant approach to resilience is a form of neoliberal governmentality that seeks to govern populations from a distance, devolve responsibility to people and communities, promote market mechanisms, encourage entrepreneurial behaviour and promote adaptation innovation and transformation among traditional communities. However, it is also recognised that this is a strongly Anglo-Saxon approach, targeted at specific individuals and communities. The purpose of the paper is to consider the extent to which German policy making is simply a reflection of this dominant Anglo-Saxon approach, or whether there is a more distinctive German view of resilie...

Research paper thumbnail of Hegemony and international relations

Research paper thumbnail of The EU’s Promotion of more Resilient European Societies:: Anglo-Saxon or European?

Research paper thumbnail of The Development of Resilience

Research paper thumbnail of The Emergence of Resilience in German Policy Making: An Anglo-Saxon Phenomenon?

Resilience in Social, Cultural and Political Spheres, 2019

In this chapter it is argued that resilience is a strongly Anglo-Saxon idea which is, nonetheless... more In this chapter it is argued that resilience is a strongly Anglo-Saxon idea which is, nonetheless, gaining influence in other countries, albeit in selected areas. Focusing on its emergence in two different areas of German policy making—national infrastructure protection and overseas disaster and humanitarian intervention—we here compare German understandings of resilience with the more established discourse in the UK and US. Here we will look at differences of emphasis in the German and Anglo-Saxon approaches to infrastructure resilience as well as identifying similarities, particularly in overseas intervention where an Anglo-Saxon approach is more widely accepted by the main actors in the field.

Research paper thumbnail of The International as Emergent: Challenging Old and New Orthodoxies in International Relations Theory

Scientific Realism and International Relations, 2010

This contribution challenges the way that IR has traditionally set up its field of analysis and i... more This contribution challenges the way that IR has traditionally set up its field of analysis and in particular the framework of system/unit. This framework has been reinforced by the work of neo-realism and the levels of analysis debate to the point where it is accepted even by many critical IR scholars. By and large the international has come to be defined as a structure or a system, while the units may range from individuals to states. This distinction runs parallel to other (perhaps more methodological) oppositions such as holism/individualism and macro/microtheory. While there are many debates as to where to place the emphasis, there are not so many debates about such distinctions themselves. This essay is concerned with showing how we might question such a way of seeing things and examines the Marxist tradition to see how things might be conceptualised differently. The first section will criticise IR approaches while the second will explore Marxist approaches. By switching attention to Marxism it can be shown how issues raised within IR such as reductionism have quite different meanings elsewhere.

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Realism: Essential Readings Margaret Archer, Roy Bhaskar, Andrew Collier, Tony Lawson and Alan Norrie (editors) London and New York: Routledge, 1998

Historical Materialism, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of The limits of practice: why realism can complement IR’s practice turn

International Theory, 2017

This paper argues that the current calls for a practice turn in International Relations (IR) whil... more This paper argues that the current calls for a practice turn in International Relations (IR) while positive in many respects, are problematic and potentially limiting because they are premised on a confused understanding of the role of philosophy and realist philosophy in particular and a restricted view of the role of sociological investigation. This arises from the problematic tendency to lapse into advocacy of an anti-realist philosophical and sociological imagination. We suggest that the problems that practice theorists point to should lead not to knee-jerk anti-realism but rather can motivate a reinvigorated conversation with realism. This entails revisiting the role of philosophy, realism, and sociology in the study of practices. We argue that far from being antithetical to practice theory, a reconsideration of realist philosophy helps make sense of the role of practice and provides those advocating practice theory with better tools to deal with the challenges which motivated ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Hegemony of Governmentality: Towards a Research Agenda

All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace, 2017

This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of ... more This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of hegemony and governmentality in the study of world politics. It is argued that certain forms of governmentality are 'strategically selected' and form part of hegemonic strategies while hegemonic strategies are enhanced by techniques of governmentality. It is also important to look at the underlying context that allows for micro practices to be 'colonised' by macro actors and which drives such actors to use such techniques. The theory of hegemony is seen as better at highlighting the context in which strategic action takes place, while governmentality is better at showing the workings of the technologies and techniques that are deployed by strategies of governing. Hegemony and governmentality therefore form part of the back and forth between macro and micro, structure and agency, institution and practice, highlighting different aspects of this constant interaction.

Research paper thumbnail of The Social in the Global: Introduction

Research paper thumbnail of Realism and hegemony

Research paper thumbnail of European integration in crisis? Of supranational integration, hegemonic projects and domestic politics

European Journal of International Relations, 2016

The European Union is facing multiple challenges. Departing from mainstream theory, this article ... more The European Union is facing multiple challenges. Departing from mainstream theory, this article adopts a fresh approach to understanding integration. It does so by taking two theoretical steps. The first introduces the structure–agency debate in order to make explicit the relationship between macro-structures, the institutional arrangements at European Union level and agency. The second proposes that the state of integration should be understood as the outcome of contestation between competing hegemonic projects that derive from underlying social processes and that find their primary expression in domestic politics. These two steps facilitate an analysis of the key areas of contestation in the contemporary European Union, illustrated by an exploration of the current crisis in the European Union, and open up the development of an alternative, critical, theory of integration.

Research paper thumbnail of Decoupling local ownership? The lost opportunities for grassroots women’s involvement in Liberian peacebuilding

Cooperation and Conflict

Civil society organizations and grassroots groups are often unable to play an active role in post... more Civil society organizations and grassroots groups are often unable to play an active role in post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding. A possible explanation for the observed challenges in peacebuilding is the gap or decoupling between international expectations and norms from practical action, local norms and capacities. External actors are often overly instrumental and operate according to a general template that fails to start from what the local capacities might actually be. This often leads to the decoupling of general values from practical action, which helps account for the observed barriers of engaging local civil and community organizations in reconstruction. We examine the different types of decoupling and the challenges these present. We evaluate our general theoretical argument using evidence based on the experiences of Liberian women’s civil society organizations. Given the compliance of the Liberian government with international norms, we should expect external a...

Research paper thumbnail of Jonathan Joseph, "The Hegemony of Governmentality: Towards a Research Agenda," All Azimuth 6,  No.2 (2017): 5-18.

All Azimuth, Jul 2017

This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of ... more This contribution sets out a research agenda that explores the promises of combining theories of hegemony and governmentality in the study of world politics. It is argued that certain forms of governmentality are 'strategically selected' and form part of hegemonic strategies while hegemonic strategies are enhanced by techniques of governmentality. It is also important to look at the underlying context that allows for micro practices to be 'colonised' by macro actors and which drives such actors to use such techniques. The theory of hegemony is seen as better at highlighting the context in which strategic action takes place, while governmentality is better at showing the workings of the technologies and techniques that are deployed by strategies of governing. Hegemony and governmentality therefore form part of the back and forth between macro and micro, structure and agency, institution and practice, highlighting different aspects of this constant interaction.