Contention and constitutionalization in the global realm:assessing the uprisings in West Asia and North Africa and their impact on international politics
This chapter introduces a reflexive research strategy outlining a critical approach that seeks to examine the impact of the uprisings in West Asia and North Africa (WANA)1 on international politics. Although the protests and contentious politics are rather local in character, I argue that they are not merely occurrences of claims making, but processes in which perceptions and imaginations as well as normative assumptions central to dominant notions of international relations are substantially reshaped. Therefore, research on international relations has to engage with these processes and practices as they uncover normative shifts that are crucial for the legitimacy of politics, but are difficult to illuminate through dominant IR theories as they are often infused with a “Westphalian narrative.”