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Recognition : A Short History

Bartelson, Jens LU (2016) In Ethics and International Affairs 30(3). p.303-321
Abstract

During the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the concept of recognition in international theory. Once the narrow concern of social theorists, the concept of recognition is nowadays invoked in at least three different senses in order to explain three different things. First, it is commonly used to explain how states and their identities are shaped by interaction, and how the modern international system has emerged as a cumulated consequence of such patterns of interaction. In this context, the concept of recognition is used to explain how states are individuated and differentiated from each other, how the international system thereby becomes stratified along status lines, as well as why conflicts over status are... (More)

During the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the concept of recognition in international theory. Once the narrow concern of social theorists, the concept of recognition is nowadays invoked in at least three different senses in order to explain three different things. First, it is commonly used to explain how states and their identities are shaped by interaction, and how the modern international system has emerged as a cumulated consequence of such patterns of interaction. In this context, the concept of recognition is used to explain how states are individuated and differentiated from each other, how the international system thereby becomes stratified along status lines, as well as why conflicts over status are possible or even inevitable. Second, although the concept of recognition has long enjoyed wide currency within international legal theory, where it is used to account for what makes states legal persons and equal members of international society, recent scholarship has done much to complicate this view by pointing out how practices of inclusion often have gone hand in hand with practices of exclusion, and how this has led to an informal stratification of international society. Third, the concept has most recently been invoked to suggest how the undesirable consequences of international anarchy can be mitigated or even avoided through mutual recognition between political communities.

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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ethics and International Affairs
volume
30
issue
3
pages
19 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000384302200002
  • scopus:85014531332
ISSN
0892-6794
DOI
10.1017/S089267941600023X
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
65716ec8-e758-4608-aabd-6ea870260550
date added to LUP
2017-03-16 09:44:48
date last changed
2024-07-21 16:17:35
@article{65716ec8-e758-4608-aabd-6ea870260550,
  abstract     = {{<p>During the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the concept of recognition in international theory. Once the narrow concern of social theorists, the concept of recognition is nowadays invoked in at least three different senses in order to explain three different things. First, it is commonly used to explain how states and their identities are shaped by interaction, and how the modern international system has emerged as a cumulated consequence of such patterns of interaction. In this context, the concept of recognition is used to explain how states are individuated and differentiated from each other, how the international system thereby becomes stratified along status lines, as well as why conflicts over status are possible or even inevitable. Second, although the concept of recognition has long enjoyed wide currency within international legal theory, where it is used to account for what makes states legal persons and equal members of international society, recent scholarship has done much to complicate this view by pointing out how practices of inclusion often have gone hand in hand with practices of exclusion, and how this has led to an informal stratification of international society. Third, the concept has most recently been invoked to suggest how the undesirable consequences of international anarchy can be mitigated or even avoided through mutual recognition between political communities.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bartelson, Jens}},
  issn         = {{0892-6794}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{303--321}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Ethics and International Affairs}},
  title        = {{Recognition : A Short History}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/102647642/Bartelson_Recognition.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/S089267941600023X}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}