From the Heart of Darkness: Critical Reading and Genuine Listening in Constructivist Norm Research

Abstract

Abstract In their article on critical norm research, Stephan Engelkamp, Katharina Glaab, and Judith Renner propose a poststructuralist, hegemony-critical program. They contrast it with an affirmative mainstream in constructivist norm research, which they argue is oblivious to power, unreflective, and Eurocentric. Therefore, they make a case for a program that unmasks hegemonic values, reconstructs and strengthens non-Western, local values, and reflects more systematically on its own position in the process of truth production. We show based on three points that the proposed program is not fruitful for a truly “critical” form of norm research: (1) it distorts the weaknesses and achievements of constructivist norm research, (2) it rewards an unreflected use of the terms “Western” and “local,” and (3) it lacks the necessary instruments for subjecting political processes to normative reflection.