Semantics of Statebuilding: Language, Meanings and Sovereignty

by Lemay-Hebert; Nicolas

• ISBN13: 9780415817295
• ISBN10: 0415817293
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-11-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume examines international statebuilding in terms of language and meanings, rather than focusing narrowly on current policy practices. Most scholarly discussion of statebuilding is about practices; by contrast, this book shifts the weight of attention toward meanings. With this emphasis comes a greater interest in intentions, emotions and circumstances. The contributors of this volume move in this direction from the belief that language is both the most important tool for building anything of social significance and the primary repository of meanings in any social setting. In the study of language, meaning is the province of semantics. The chapters address the semantics of statebuilding from a variety of perspectives. The majority of the contributors do so historically, be it by discussing political history, social history or/and the history of ideas; one chapter addresses statebuilding from the perspective of current developments, while two others adopt a regional approach in order to reflect on statebuilding in the very recent past. Drawing together leading scholars, this book will be of much interest to students of statebuilding and intervention, war and conflict studies, security studies and international relations.