International Negotiations: Language in Crisis and Conflict Handling Negotiations, and vice versa : A conceptual study on international crisis/conflict negotiations considered in Wittgensteinian, Austinian and Derridean terms, with reflections on the case

Abstract: The thesis presents a conceptual study engaging the theories emerged in the philosophy of language and the theories of international relations and negotiations into a single framework. The framework comprises the concepts developed by L. Wittgenstein, J. L. Austin, and J. Derrida whose relevance has been identified through searching for the zone of common grounds in which they could contribute to the theoretical knowledge on international negotiations in crisis and conflict handling contexts. It has accordingly been developed following the lines of the IR/negotiations theoretical set, but also adjusted by considering two relevant empirical cases. The said Wittgenstein-Austin-Derrida framework has been assigned the mission to study language as a tool in crisis/conflict negotiations, but likewise to consider crisis/conflict negotiations in the framework of language. This implies the post-structuralist approach to the international affairs, which enables the possibility of deconstructing the matter on its textual/discursive components. On such grounds, it perceives the ‘text’ as a source of political power, i.e. as a pattern which comprises the present institutions. By virtue of assigning new meanings to the ‘text’, it regards discourses as that what creates agencies in international relations.