Xavier Mathieu
Biographic Data
| ID | 1667512 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Xavier Mathieu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Xavier |
| FAMILY NAME | Mathieu |
| SIGNATURE | MATHIEU X |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sheffield |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7541-7378 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The politics of “political violence”: Terrorism, violence and the political
The relationship between “terrorism” and “politics” is ambiguous and contested. While “terrorism” is almost universally defined as “political” violence, the “terrorism” label is also generating a de-politicisation of the “terrorists” by silencing the underlying causes of their violence and portraying the “terrorists” as “madmen”. As such, “terrorism” seems to both confirm and contest the “political” nature of violence. In this article, I explore …
Narratology and US Foreign Policy in Syria: Beyond Identity Binaries, toward Narrative Power
Narrative approaches have recently gained popularity in International Relations (IR), albeit often with a focus on instrumentality. This article analyzes the “value added” of narratology, complementing IR’s existing focus on strategic narratives, by focusing on what it is that sets stories apart from other linguistic features. The article develops three contributions. First, we demonstrate that narratology contributes to efforts in IR to move bey…
Precarious multiplicity: France, ‘foreign fighters’ and the containment of difference
This article investigates the portrayal by French policy-makers of the so-called Islamic State ‘foreign fighters’. I provide an in-depth analysis of the discursive construction of these ‘foreign fighters’ as different and detached from the (French) Self. I do so through a questioning of the notion of multiplicity, revealing how it exists precariously and the consequences this precariousness has on the notion itself. First, multiplicity emerges in…
R2P and the Arab Spring: Norm Localisation and the US Response to the Early Syria Crisis
This article explains why R2P failed to motivate action to protect vulnerable Syrians in the first two years of the crisis. We focus on the United States and argue that official discourse ‘localised’ the meaning R2P by grafting it on to preconceived ideas of America’s role in supporting democratic revolutions, which is how the situation was understood. American ‘exemplarism’ demanded the US support democracy by calling on Assad to go while not co…
Critical peacebuilding and the dilemma of difference: The stigma of the ‘local’ and the quest for equality
Recent research has revealed the need to include and understand local actors in order to improve the effectiveness of peacebuilding. According to these analyses, peacebuilding could become more respectful of cultural differences thanks to a genuine engagement with the specificities of the local. Empirical studies of the ‘different’ local have thus flourished in the field with the ambition of countering the universalist tendency of traditional pea…
Sovereign myths in international relations: Sovereignty as equality and the reproduction of Eurocentric blindness
The concept of sovereignty still generates a considerable amount of debate in the discipline of International Relations. Using myth as a heuristic device, I argue that part of this confusion results from a mythical understanding of ‘sovereignty as equality’. Following the myth, sovereignty is seen as playing an equalising role in international relations, while international inequalities are depicted as existing despite the norm of sovereignty (an…
Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding
Whereas practitioners and mainstream approaches to intervention are concerned about the inability to manage difference in a way that is conducive to peace, critical scholars worry about the inability to write difference without essentializing ‘it’ or reproducing and legitimizing power structures. Can we revert the pessimism regarding the possibility to engage with others sensitively and build peace in a diverse world? In this article, we argue th…
The dynamics of 'civilised' sovereignty: Colonial Frontiers and Performative Discourses of Civilisation and Savagery
Critical and post-colonial scholars have argued that a more complete account of sovereignty necessitates an exploration of the colonial experiences through which Western civilised identity was forged. But the way these 'distant' encounters were used in (and interacted with) the process of claiming sovereignty domestically has received less attention. This is surprising as critical scholars have revealed the existence of strong similarities betwee…
The oecd ’s discourse on fragile states: Expertise and the normalisation of knowledge production
The concept of legitimacy has been highly influential in policy recommendations concerning state building in ‘fragile states’. Indeed, depending on how ‘legitimacy’ is conceived, the actions and practices of state builders can differ substantially. This article discusses what is at stake in the conceptualisation of ‘legitimacy’ by comparing the academic literature with the normative production of the oecd. Looking at two approaches to legitimacy …
Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding
Whereas practitioners and mainstream approaches to intervention are concerned about the inability to manage difference in a way that is conducive to peace, critical scholars worry about the inability to write difference without essentializing ‘it’ or reproducing and legitimizing power structures. Can we revert the pessimism regarding the possibility to engage with others sensitively and build peace in a diverse world? In this article, we argue th…
Narratology and US Foreign Policy in Syria: Beyond Identity Binaries, toward Narrative Power
Narrative approaches have recently gained popularity in International Relations (IR), albeit often with a focus on instrumentality. This article analyzes the “value added” of narratology, complementing IR’s existing focus on strategic narratives, by focusing on what it is that sets stories apart from other linguistic features. The article develops three contributions. First, we demonstrate that narratology contributes to efforts in IR to move bey…
The oecd ’s discourse on fragile states: Expertise and the normalisation of knowledge production
The concept of legitimacy has been highly influential in policy recommendations concerning state building in ‘fragile states’. Indeed, depending on how ‘legitimacy’ is conceived, the actions and practices of state builders can differ substantially. This article discusses what is at stake in the conceptualisation of ‘legitimacy’ by comparing the academic literature with the normative production of the oecd. Looking at two approaches to legitimacy …
Sovereign myths in international relations: Sovereignty as equality and the reproduction of Eurocentric blindness
The concept of sovereignty still generates a considerable amount of debate in the discipline of International Relations. Using myth as a heuristic device, I argue that part of this confusion results from a mythical understanding of ‘sovereignty as equality’. Following the myth, sovereignty is seen as playing an equalising role in international relations, while international inequalities are depicted as existing despite the norm of sovereignty (an…
Precarious multiplicity: France, ‘foreign fighters’ and the containment of difference
This article investigates the portrayal by French policy-makers of the so-called Islamic State ‘foreign fighters’. I provide an in-depth analysis of the discursive construction of these ‘foreign fighters’ as different and detached from the (French) Self. I do so through a questioning of the notion of multiplicity, revealing how it exists precariously and the consequences this precariousness has on the notion itself. First, multiplicity emerges in…
Critical peacebuilding and the dilemma of difference: The stigma of the ‘local’ and the quest for equality
Recent research has revealed the need to include and understand local actors in order to improve the effectiveness of peacebuilding. According to these analyses, peacebuilding could become more respectful of cultural differences thanks to a genuine engagement with the specificities of the local. Empirical studies of the ‘different’ local have thus flourished in the field with the ambition of countering the universalist tendency of traditional pea…
R2P and the Arab Spring: Norm Localisation and the US Response to the Early Syria Crisis
This article explains why R2P failed to motivate action to protect vulnerable Syrians in the first two years of the crisis. We focus on the United States and argue that official discourse ‘localised’ the meaning R2P by grafting it on to preconceived ideas of America’s role in supporting democratic revolutions, which is how the situation was understood. American ‘exemplarism’ demanded the US support democracy by calling on Assad to go while not co…
The oecd ’s discourse on fragile states: Expertise and the normalisation of knowledge production
The concept of legitimacy has been highly influential in policy recommendations concerning state building in ‘fragile states’. Indeed, depending on how ‘legitimacy’ is conceived, the actions and practices of state builders can differ substantially. This article discusses what is at stake in the conceptualisation of ‘legitimacy’ by comparing the academic literature with the normative production of the oecd. Looking at two approaches to legitimacy …
Sovereign myths in international relations: Sovereignty as equality and the reproduction of Eurocentric blindness
The concept of sovereignty still generates a considerable amount of debate in the discipline of International Relations. Using myth as a heuristic device, I argue that part of this confusion results from a mythical understanding of ‘sovereignty as equality’. Following the myth, sovereignty is seen as playing an equalising role in international relations, while international inequalities are depicted as existing despite the norm of sovereignty (an…
Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding
Whereas practitioners and mainstream approaches to intervention are concerned about the inability to manage difference in a way that is conducive to peace, critical scholars worry about the inability to write difference without essentializing ‘it’ or reproducing and legitimizing power structures. Can we revert the pessimism regarding the possibility to engage with others sensitively and build peace in a diverse world? In this article, we argue th…
The dynamics of 'civilised' sovereignty: Colonial Frontiers and Performative Discourses of Civilisation and Savagery
Critical and post-colonial scholars have argued that a more complete account of sovereignty necessitates an exploration of the colonial experiences through which Western civilised identity was forged. But the way these 'distant' encounters were used in (and interacted with) the process of claiming sovereignty domestically has received less attention. This is surprising as critical scholars have revealed the existence of strong similarities betwee…
Critical peacebuilding and the dilemma of difference: The stigma of the ‘local’ and the quest for equality
Recent research has revealed the need to include and understand local actors in order to improve the effectiveness of peacebuilding. According to these analyses, peacebuilding could become more respectful of cultural differences thanks to a genuine engagement with the specificities of the local. Empirical studies of the ‘different’ local have thus flourished in the field with the ambition of countering the universalist tendency of traditional pea…
R2P and the Arab Spring: Norm Localisation and the US Response to the Early Syria Crisis
This article explains why R2P failed to motivate action to protect vulnerable Syrians in the first two years of the crisis. We focus on the United States and argue that official discourse ‘localised’ the meaning R2P by grafting it on to preconceived ideas of America’s role in supporting democratic revolutions, which is how the situation was understood. American ‘exemplarism’ demanded the US support democracy by calling on Assad to go while not co…
Precarious multiplicity: France, ‘foreign fighters’ and the containment of difference
This article investigates the portrayal by French policy-makers of the so-called Islamic State ‘foreign fighters’. I provide an in-depth analysis of the discursive construction of these ‘foreign fighters’ as different and detached from the (French) Self. I do so through a questioning of the notion of multiplicity, revealing how it exists precariously and the consequences this precariousness has on the notion itself. First, multiplicity emerges in…
Narratology and US Foreign Policy in Syria: Beyond Identity Binaries, toward Narrative Power
Narrative approaches have recently gained popularity in International Relations (IR), albeit often with a focus on instrumentality. This article analyzes the “value added” of narratology, complementing IR’s existing focus on strategic narratives, by focusing on what it is that sets stories apart from other linguistic features. The article develops three contributions. First, we demonstrate that narratology contributes to efforts in IR to move bey…
The politics of “political violence”: Terrorism, violence and the political
The relationship between “terrorism” and “politics” is ambiguous and contested. While “terrorism” is almost universally defined as “political” violence, the “terrorism” label is also generating a de-politicisation of the “terrorists” by silencing the underlying causes of their violence and portraying the “terrorists” as “madmen”. As such, “terrorism” seems to both confirm and contest the “political” nature of violence. In this article, I explore …
Law (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (6 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works)