Normalcy and ableism in international relations: a disability critique of Norms

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Title Normalcy and ableism in international relations: a disability critique of Norms
Publication Type dissertation
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Political Science
Author Christian, Stephen Michael
Date 2019
Description This dissertation explores how disability studies can critique the prevalence of normalcy in international relations. Since the rise of constructivism, IR scholars use the idea of norms to explain how ideas shape identities, which in turn define interests. Critical constructivists and postcolonial theorists have scrutinized international norms, but I argue that their critiques are insufficient. Disability studies suggests three critiques of norms. First, the norms literature largely overlooks how ableist rhetoric and stereotypes of disabled people play into the spread and contestation of norms. Second, disability studies historicizes the notion of norms. Third, the norms literature often overlooks the importance of quantitative norms in disciplining states and (dis)abled people to spread, change, and/or manage qualitative international norms. Chapters 2 to 4 lay out the literature I engage and critique. Chapters 5 and 6, meanwhile, respectively provide case studies that challenge the International Relations literature and the global-health regime. In the Conclusion, I engage the notion of "cripping" international society to decenter norms and to rearticulate the complexities of international politics.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Dissertation Name Doctor of Philosophy
Language eng
Rights Management (c) Stephen Michael Christian
Format application/pdf
Format Medium applcation/pdf
ARK ark:/87278/s6c2v051
Setname ir_etd
ID 1757547
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6c2v051
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