The International Political Sociology Of Security: Rethinking Theory And Practice (new International Relations)

This book builds a theoretical approach to the intractable problem of theory/practice in international relations (IR) and develops tools to study how theory and practice ︣hang together̉ in international security. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieủs political sociology, the book argues that theory and practice take part in struggles over basic understandings (doxa) in international fields through what the book calls doxic battles. In these battles e.g. scientific facts, military hardware and social networks are mobilised as weapons in a fight for recognition. NATỎs transformation and fight for survival and the rapidly growing number of think tanks in European security in the 1990s is taken as an example of these processes. The book studies a variety of sources such as funding to science programmes in Europe; think tanks and research centres in European security; NATỎs relations with the EU, the WEU and the OSCE; and the mobilization of theory at crucial points in the transformation process. Theory as Practice and Capital will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, security studies and critical theory. (A cura dell'editore) This book builds a theoretical approach to the intractable problem of theory/practice in international relations (IR) and develops tools to study how theory and practice ︣hang together̉ in international security. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieủs political sociology, the book argues that theory and practice take part in struggles over basic understandings (doxa) in international fields through what the book calls doxic battles. In these battles e.g. scientific facts, military hardware and social networks are mobilised as weapons in a fight for recognition. NATỎs transformation and fight for survival and the rapidly growing number of think tanks in European security in the 1990s is taken as an example of these processes. The book studies a variety of sources such as funding to science programmes in Europe; think tanks and research centres in European security; NATỎs relations with the EU, the WEU and the OSCE; and the mobilization of theory at crucial points in the transformation process. Theory as Practice and Capital will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, security studies and critical theory. (A cura dell'editore) 1. Introduction -- 2. When theory meets practice -- 3. A sociology of IR. Doxic battles and the (re)configuration of a field -- 4. Field-specific capital and agency in the european field of security -- 5. Practical patterns of interaction -- 6. Doxic battles in European security : the mobilization and redefinition of capital -- 7. Conclusion Argues for a sociological approach geared to understanding different types of practices in International Relations