W Distler
Biographic Data
| ID | 48700 |
|---|---|
| NAME | W Distler |
| GIVEN NAMES | W |
| FAMILY NAME | Distler |
| SIGNATURE | DISTLER W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Philipps University of Marburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7314-0360 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Building a new world? East-West disputes on United Nations trusteeship and self-determination
International governance is contested. Whether in the form of direct interventions, externally supported peacebuilding, or international administrations, these modes of governance within international organizations are shaped and overlaid by the ideas and practices of international politics as exercised by powerful states. Great powers’ attempts at worldmaking, emerging in competition, but also cooperation with their adversaries within internatio…
Knowledge production on intervention failure. The German study commission on Afghanistan
Knowledge and the governing of the interventionary object: Mali in the German parliament
While studies on the role of knowledge and expertise have seen a resurgence of interest in International Relations and in literature on peacebuilding and security governance, little is known how knowledge enters the governance routines after the initial establishment of peacebuilding operations. Taking the mandate decision-making process of MINUSMA and EUTM operations in Mali in the German parliament as case for our explorative study, we ask how …
Securitising the Present through the Prism of the Past: State-Building and the Legacy of Interventions in Kosovo and Serbia
In this article, the author argues that political actors in Kosovo and Serbia, together with international actors from the UN, NATO, and the EU, have developed strategies of political communication in which the threat or promise of external intervention in Southeast European processes of state-building and state consolidation have been deeply inscribed. Based on a critical security studies theoretical framework, especially pragmatist securitisati…
Governing the inner "periphery." Spatial security governance of the Highlands in Papua New Guinea since the colonial period
Secessionist Conflicts: Unresolved Legacies of United Nations Trusteeship
We argue that the United Nations Trusteeship System after World War II, in its attempts to release states into independence, was simultaneously complicit in perpetuating secessionist conflicts, with which former trust territories continue to struggle until today. Secessionism was framed as a threat to state-building and not as an expression of self-determination. We use a Critical Security Studies framework and compare the conflict on Ewe/Togolan…
Political crisis and the Corona—‘State of Emergency’ in Kosovo
Amidst the arrival of the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Kosovo, the new coalition government of Vetevendosje and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) under the leadership of Prime Minister Kurti (Vetevendosje) collapsed after a vote of no confidence on 25 March 2020. On the surface, the vote, initiated by LDK, was the consequence of a conflict over the appropriate Corona strategy. A two-month power struggle under the extraordinary circumstances of…
Dangerised youth: The politics of security and development in Timor-Leste
International organisations, the national government and civil society alike have identified youth as a potential threat to the stability of the young state of Timor-Leste over the last decade. In this article, I ask how these actors define the danger of youth and what reasons they identify for the potential threat of young citizens for the society and state. Guided by a theoretical framework of Critical Security and Development Studies, I argue …
Securitisation and Desecuritisation of Violence in Trusteeship Statebuilding
The United Nations has engaged in (neo)trusteeship statebuilding in two different contexts: post-Second World War decolonisation and after the Cold War. On both occasions, statebuilding aimed at preventing organised, large-scale violence. Nevertheless, these statebuilding efforts were confronted by several forms of violence, ranging from civil war to a high level of politically motivated violence. In this article, we ask how and why administratio…
Economies of Peace: Economy Formation Processes and Outcomes in Conflict-Affected Societies
Looking beyond and beneath the macro level, this special issue is interested in the processes and outcomes of the interaction of economic reforms, socio-economic peacebuilding programmes and intern
And Everybody Did Whatever They Wanted to Do’: Informal Practices of International Statebuilders in Kosovo
Informal practices of local actors in Kosovo have been harshly criticised by international statebuilding actors. However, it would be short sighted to ignore the role of informal practices of international actors in the post-conflict political economy. Working with a qualitative political economy framework, which focuses on the emergence of the socioeconomic post-war order, I argue that we can observe a range of impactful informal practices of in…
The Authority–Identity Relation: Symbolic References and Interpretative Authority in Postwar Kosovo
In postwar Kosovo, international and Kosovar political actors claiming authority in the democratization and statebuilding process lacked a long-standing ‘authoritative relation’ with each other and the citizenry. To analyse the structural conditions for the emergence of political authority, the article suggests applying the analytical framework of ‘interpretative authority’, which captures the relational character and simultaneity of authority ge…
Intervention as a social practice: Knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of police missions
The problematic nature of biased knowledge held by professionalized experts and aid workers in statebuilding is already recognized. Yet we still lack understanding on knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of statebuilding operations. I argue that the actors on the ground gain their knowledge in powerful and self-referential socialization processes. The aim of this article is to reconstruct via an interactionist theoretical framework, h…
Authority in statebuilding as communicative practice. The Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework in Kosovo
Post-war constitution-making touches the future identity of the concerned society. In externally led democratization, it can turn into a challenging negotiation process between international and so-called local actors. But who can claim the authority to define and interpret identity and fundamental norms of society, and on what grounds? Based on an analysis of the “Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework” held in spring 2001 in Kosovo…
Intervention Als Soziale Praxis: Interaktionserfahrungen Im Alltag des Statebuilding Am Beispiel der Internationalen Polizeimission Im Kosovo
Towards a ‘Social Framework of Intervention’: History, Practice and Discourse of Humanitarian Intervention
Recent conflicts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Mali or Syria remind us of the continuing relevance of a broad academic debate on the political concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’
Making Sense of Peace and Capacity-Building Operations: Rethinking Policing and Beyond by Bryn W. Hughes, Charles T. Hunt and Boris Kondoch
Economies of Peace: Economy Formation Processes and Outcomes in Conflict-Affected Societies
Looking beyond and beneath the macro level, this special issue is interested in the processes and outcomes of the interaction of economic reforms, socio-economic peacebuilding programmes and intern
Intervention as a social practice: Knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of police missions
The problematic nature of biased knowledge held by professionalized experts and aid workers in statebuilding is already recognized. Yet we still lack understanding on knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of statebuilding operations. I argue that the actors on the ground gain their knowledge in powerful and self-referential socialization processes. The aim of this article is to reconstruct via an interactionist theoretical framework, h…
And Everybody Did Whatever They Wanted to Do’: Informal Practices of International Statebuilders in Kosovo
Informal practices of local actors in Kosovo have been harshly criticised by international statebuilding actors. However, it would be short sighted to ignore the role of informal practices of international actors in the post-conflict political economy. Working with a qualitative political economy framework, which focuses on the emergence of the socioeconomic post-war order, I argue that we can observe a range of impactful informal practices of in…
Securitisation and Desecuritisation of Violence in Trusteeship Statebuilding
The United Nations has engaged in (neo)trusteeship statebuilding in two different contexts: post-Second World War decolonisation and after the Cold War. On both occasions, statebuilding aimed at preventing organised, large-scale violence. Nevertheless, these statebuilding efforts were confronted by several forms of violence, ranging from civil war to a high level of politically motivated violence. In this article, we ask how and why administratio…
The Authority–Identity Relation: Symbolic References and Interpretative Authority in Postwar Kosovo
In postwar Kosovo, international and Kosovar political actors claiming authority in the democratization and statebuilding process lacked a long-standing ‘authoritative relation’ with each other and the citizenry. To analyse the structural conditions for the emergence of political authority, the article suggests applying the analytical framework of ‘interpretative authority’, which captures the relational character and simultaneity of authority ge…
Authority in statebuilding as communicative practice. The Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework in Kosovo
Post-war constitution-making touches the future identity of the concerned society. In externally led democratization, it can turn into a challenging negotiation process between international and so-called local actors. But who can claim the authority to define and interpret identity and fundamental norms of society, and on what grounds? Based on an analysis of the “Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework” held in spring 2001 in Kosovo…
Knowledge and the governing of the interventionary object: Mali in the German parliament
While studies on the role of knowledge and expertise have seen a resurgence of interest in International Relations and in literature on peacebuilding and security governance, little is known how knowledge enters the governance routines after the initial establishment of peacebuilding operations. Taking the mandate decision-making process of MINUSMA and EUTM operations in Mali in the German parliament as case for our explorative study, we ask how …
Secessionist Conflicts: Unresolved Legacies of United Nations Trusteeship
We argue that the United Nations Trusteeship System after World War II, in its attempts to release states into independence, was simultaneously complicit in perpetuating secessionist conflicts, with which former trust territories continue to struggle until today. Secessionism was framed as a threat to state-building and not as an expression of self-determination. We use a Critical Security Studies framework and compare the conflict on Ewe/Togolan…
Making Sense of Peace and Capacity-Building Operations: Rethinking Policing and Beyond by Bryn W. Hughes, Charles T. Hunt and Boris Kondoch
Intervention Als Soziale Praxis: Interaktionserfahrungen Im Alltag des Statebuilding Am Beispiel der Internationalen Polizeimission Im Kosovo
Towards a ‘Social Framework of Intervention’: History, Practice and Discourse of Humanitarian Intervention
Recent conflicts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Mali or Syria remind us of the continuing relevance of a broad academic debate on the political concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’
Intervention as a social practice: Knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of police missions
The problematic nature of biased knowledge held by professionalized experts and aid workers in statebuilding is already recognized. Yet we still lack understanding on knowledge formation and transfer in the everyday of statebuilding operations. I argue that the actors on the ground gain their knowledge in powerful and self-referential socialization processes. The aim of this article is to reconstruct via an interactionist theoretical framework, h…
Authority in statebuilding as communicative practice. The Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework in Kosovo
Post-war constitution-making touches the future identity of the concerned society. In externally led democratization, it can turn into a challenging negotiation process between international and so-called local actors. But who can claim the authority to define and interpret identity and fundamental norms of society, and on what grounds? Based on an analysis of the “Joint Working Group on the Constitutional Framework” held in spring 2001 in Kosovo…
The Authority–Identity Relation: Symbolic References and Interpretative Authority in Postwar Kosovo
In postwar Kosovo, international and Kosovar political actors claiming authority in the democratization and statebuilding process lacked a long-standing ‘authoritative relation’ with each other and the citizenry. To analyse the structural conditions for the emergence of political authority, the article suggests applying the analytical framework of ‘interpretative authority’, which captures the relational character and simultaneity of authority ge…
Securitisation and Desecuritisation of Violence in Trusteeship Statebuilding
The United Nations has engaged in (neo)trusteeship statebuilding in two different contexts: post-Second World War decolonisation and after the Cold War. On both occasions, statebuilding aimed at preventing organised, large-scale violence. Nevertheless, these statebuilding efforts were confronted by several forms of violence, ranging from civil war to a high level of politically motivated violence. In this article, we ask how and why administratio…
Economies of Peace: Economy Formation Processes and Outcomes in Conflict-Affected Societies
Looking beyond and beneath the macro level, this special issue is interested in the processes and outcomes of the interaction of economic reforms, socio-economic peacebuilding programmes and intern
And Everybody Did Whatever They Wanted to Do’: Informal Practices of International Statebuilders in Kosovo
Informal practices of local actors in Kosovo have been harshly criticised by international statebuilding actors. However, it would be short sighted to ignore the role of informal practices of international actors in the post-conflict political economy. Working with a qualitative political economy framework, which focuses on the emergence of the socioeconomic post-war order, I argue that we can observe a range of impactful informal practices of in…
Dangerised youth: The politics of security and development in Timor-Leste
International organisations, the national government and civil society alike have identified youth as a potential threat to the stability of the young state of Timor-Leste over the last decade. In this article, I ask how these actors define the danger of youth and what reasons they identify for the potential threat of young citizens for the society and state. Guided by a theoretical framework of Critical Security and Development Studies, I argue …
Political crisis and the Corona—‘State of Emergency’ in Kosovo
Amidst the arrival of the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Kosovo, the new coalition government of Vetevendosje and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) under the leadership of Prime Minister Kurti (Vetevendosje) collapsed after a vote of no confidence on 25 March 2020. On the surface, the vote, initiated by LDK, was the consequence of a conflict over the appropriate Corona strategy. A two-month power struggle under the extraordinary circumstances of…
Secessionist Conflicts: Unresolved Legacies of United Nations Trusteeship
We argue that the United Nations Trusteeship System after World War II, in its attempts to release states into independence, was simultaneously complicit in perpetuating secessionist conflicts, with which former trust territories continue to struggle until today. Secessionism was framed as a threat to state-building and not as an expression of self-determination. We use a Critical Security Studies framework and compare the conflict on Ewe/Togolan…
Securitising the Present through the Prism of the Past: State-Building and the Legacy of Interventions in Kosovo and Serbia
In this article, the author argues that political actors in Kosovo and Serbia, together with international actors from the UN, NATO, and the EU, have developed strategies of political communication in which the threat or promise of external intervention in Southeast European processes of state-building and state consolidation have been deeply inscribed. Based on a critical security studies theoretical framework, especially pragmatist securitisati…
Governing the inner "periphery." Spatial security governance of the Highlands in Papua New Guinea since the colonial period
Knowledge and the governing of the interventionary object: Mali in the German parliament
While studies on the role of knowledge and expertise have seen a resurgence of interest in International Relations and in literature on peacebuilding and security governance, little is known how knowledge enters the governance routines after the initial establishment of peacebuilding operations. Taking the mandate decision-making process of MINUSMA and EUTM operations in Mali in the German parliament as case for our explorative study, we ask how …
Knowledge production on intervention failure. The German study commission on Afghanistan
Building a new world? East-West disputes on United Nations trusteeship and self-determination
International governance is contested. Whether in the form of direct interventions, externally supported peacebuilding, or international administrations, these modes of governance within international organizations are shaped and overlaid by the ideas and practices of international politics as exercised by powerful states. Great powers’ attempts at worldmaking, emerging in competition, but also cooperation with their adversaries within internatio…
Political science (16 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (15 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (11 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Global Security and Public Health (6 works)