The 'Field' in the Age of Intervention: Power, Legitimacy, and Authority Versus the 'Local'
(2015) In Millennium 44(1). p.23-44- Abstract
- This article highlights the semantic and socio-political meaning of the 'field' as it is used in both academic research and policy practices: as a geographic and material space related to forms of intervention in International Relations (IR), and not as a disciplinary space. We argue that the notion of the field' carries colonial baggage in terms of denoting 'backwardness' and conflictual practices, as well as legitimising the need for intervention by peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development actors located outside the field. We also show how academic practices have tended to create a semiotic frame in which the inhabitants of the research and intervention space are kept at a distance from the researcher, and discursively stripped of... (More)
- This article highlights the semantic and socio-political meaning of the 'field' as it is used in both academic research and policy practices: as a geographic and material space related to forms of intervention in International Relations (IR), and not as a disciplinary space. We argue that the notion of the field' carries colonial baggage in terms of denoting 'backwardness' and conflictual practices, as well as legitimising the need for intervention by peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development actors located outside the field. We also show how academic practices have tended to create a semiotic frame in which the inhabitants of the research and intervention space are kept at a distance from the researcher, and discursively stripped of their agency. Along similar lines, policy-practice has reinforced the notion of the field as being in need of intervention, making it subject to external control. This article suggests that the agency of the inhabitants of the field has to be re-cognised and de-colonised so that political legitimacy can be recovered from 'intervention'. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7964859
- author
- Richmond, Oliver P. ; Kappler, Stefanie and Björkdahl, Annika LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- power, agency, semantics, research methodology, intervention
- in
- Millennium
- volume
- 44
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 23 - 44
- publisher
- Millennium Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000360410400002
- scopus:84960426627
- ISSN
- 0305-8298
- DOI
- 10.1177/0305829815594871
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7300f6f0-2a4c-4f67-a0dd-2655be945942 (old id 7964859)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:23:26
- date last changed
- 2022-03-21 18:18:35
@article{7300f6f0-2a4c-4f67-a0dd-2655be945942,
abstract = {{This article highlights the semantic and socio-political meaning of the 'field' as it is used in both academic research and policy practices: as a geographic and material space related to forms of intervention in International Relations (IR), and not as a disciplinary space. We argue that the notion of the field' carries colonial baggage in terms of denoting 'backwardness' and conflictual practices, as well as legitimising the need for intervention by peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development actors located outside the field. We also show how academic practices have tended to create a semiotic frame in which the inhabitants of the research and intervention space are kept at a distance from the researcher, and discursively stripped of their agency. Along similar lines, policy-practice has reinforced the notion of the field as being in need of intervention, making it subject to external control. This article suggests that the agency of the inhabitants of the field has to be re-cognised and de-colonised so that political legitimacy can be recovered from 'intervention'.}},
author = {{Richmond, Oliver P. and Kappler, Stefanie and Björkdahl, Annika}},
issn = {{0305-8298}},
keywords = {{power; agency; semantics; research methodology; intervention}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{23--44}},
publisher = {{Millennium Publishing Group}},
series = {{Millennium}},
title = {{The 'Field' in the Age of Intervention: Power, Legitimacy, and Authority Versus the 'Local'}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0305829815594871}},
doi = {{10.1177/0305829815594871}},
volume = {{44}},
year = {{2015}},
}