Thick Recognition: Advancing thoery on identity change in intractable conlficts

This study relates the concept of recognition to processes of conflict transformation. The recognition concept has been underdeveloped in recent IR literature, where the main emphasis has been on interstate relations and on recognition as cause of conflict. This article challenges that understanding through the introduction of the concept of thick recognition. Thus an understanding of recognition which is applicable also in intrastate conflicts is developed. Through a strong emphasis on intrastate relations and identity politics, I develop thoughts on how narratives of war can be reversed through the introduction of narratives of recognition. The study thus provides theoretical concepts and distinctions that can be used as a framework for the study of thick recognition and its relationship to broader processes of conflict transformation. The theoretical framework is employed in a case study on the Israeli debates about ‘New History’. Insights from the case contribute to understandings of inhibiting and facilitating circumstances for the introduction of narratives of thick recognition in conflicted societies. The study ends with a discussion on the usefulness of the theoretical concepts for further work on recognition within the field of IR

The European Union and lethal autonomous weapons systems: united in diversity?

This chapter focuses on norm contestation in the emerging stage by exploring the possible prohibition of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), which is advocated by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. At the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, there is a shared agreement regarding a new organizing principle on human control. But different normative views on how human control should be regulated are leading the debate to a deadlock situation. On the one hand, the group advocating for inaction and on the other hand, the group of countries willing to ban LAWS. To avoid this, Germany and France together with the EU delegation worked on a soft law instrument. At the intra-EU level, an interinstitutional agreement between the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the EU has agreed to do not fund LAWS within the European Defence Fund. All in all, in both international organizations deliberation as a mode of contestation was dominant and resulted in a soft contestation of the emerging norm. As a result, the EU at the international level-triggered norm followership, where its fundamental norms and values of EU foreign policy proved to be resilient, while at the intra-EU level it enhanced internal cohesiveness.Esther Barbé wishes to acknowledge the Observatory of European Foreign Policy-SGR, funded by the Agency for Management of University Research Grants (AGAUR) of the Catalan Government (Grant agreement: 2017-SGR-693). Diego Badell thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness for funding (FPI, Grant number: BES-2017-079692)