6. Gëzim Visoka and Nicolas Lemay-Hébert (2022), Normalization in World Politics, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
This book seeks to critically interrogate different praxeological invocations of normalcy and normalisation in world politics. The concepts of normalcy and normalisation have been variously defined in different disciplines, making the notions essentially contested and contingent on semantic interpretations. Using Foucauldian-inspired framework, we define normalisation in world politics as a set of governmentality practices aimed at disciplining and regulating societies deemed ‘abnormal’ or ‘dysfunctional’ through wide-ranging forms of, normalisation practices—imposing, restoring, and accepting normalcy—are made possible by specific discourses. We argue that shedding light on the politics of normalisation is essential for making sense how international authority is constructed through exercising power by abnormalising certain societies, places, and situation and rendering plausible intervention with ambiguous and uncertain intentions immune from the responsibility for eventual harm caused. The analysis in this book are informed by a wide range of case studies and critical review of policy documents to provide empirical texture to the analysis of normalisation in world politics.
Open access link: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.10171116
