The clash of practice: political controversy and the United Nations Peacebuilding commission

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Controversy is at the heart of politics. Theories of practice offer a productive way of understanding controversies and potentially negotiating in them. In this paper, drawing on the work of Theodore Schatzki, Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, I introduce a heuristic for understanding controversies. I argue that what is often at stake in controversies are different types of practices of how a political issue should be handled. I introduce five of these types of practices. I analyse a case from global politics to demonstrate the value of such a perspective – the controversies in the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission are analysed as clashes between different practices of handling peacebuilding.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEvidence and Policy
Volume7
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)171-191
Number of pages20
ISSN1744-2648
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2011
Externally publishedYes

ID: 209142753