When it comes to explaining how practices change, two approaches dominate IR. Scholars influenced by narrative analysis consider that new practices emerge when the identity of the performers changes; those influenced by practice theory consider change to occur incrementally, through small modifications at the margins of existing practices. I suggest a third approach, which takes the narrative-practice nexus as a starting point. Two sources of meaning-making – the stories people believe in and their habits – work in combination. New practices emerge through hysteresis, a temporary ill-adaptation of practices and narratives caused by a change in the practitioner’s environment. To illustrate, I focus on the changing practices and narratives of diplomatic reporting in Cairo during the regime change in early 2011. This illustrates the promises of a study of hysteresis to explain how changes occur and responds to important objections raised against practice theory, accused of not taking change seriously.
