Contested Concepts in International Politics

Abstract

In international politics actors usually operate in an environment, in which the “Self” meets the “Other”, either directly or indirectly, both with their experiences and memories, ideologies and identities. There the key concepts like democracy, freedom, space of influence, security, genocide, etc., like even the whole nature of the international system, are highly contested. Naming and labelling belong to politics, as concepts and their use, as well. On a practical level this could lead to a dispute or a kind of a constructive ambiguity, as inventing neologisms and newspeak, to gain ostensible understanding between actors. On a more theoretical level the whole discipline of International Relations can be labelled as an endless game of different schools and a promised land of different “isms”. On one hand these schools share some concepts, but on the other hand different theories and have elaborated their own hegemonic vocabularies, as well. Thus, the panel is based on central ideas of conceptual history or Begriffsgeschichte, in which political key concepts are always controversial, linked to interests and are open for politics. We are interested in concepts and their use in politics, how concepts and their alterations change the world, as the emergence of new concepts, as finally the old ones, and their changing meanings. Here the question is not only about ontologies and epistemologies, but concepts as such as a part of political struggles. We welcome all interested in concepts and conceptual changes in international politics, as multiple approaches comparing international and diplomatic practices, European Studies and more theoretical approaches.

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