The Justification of Responsibility in the UN Security Council

This book is an excellent contribution to the field of International Political Sociology. The application of pragmatist sociology to the proceedings of the UN Security Council produces new insights and surprising interpretations of the social interactions within the UNSC. Conceiving normative controversies not as a pathology or problem but as a permanent feature of social interactions provides the reader with a highly original outlook on the everyday work of the UNSC. Holger Niemann's study provides a thorough analysis of the complexities and dynamics of processes of legitimation and de-legitimation within international organizations. - Anna Geis, Helmut Schmidt University, University of the Federal Armed Forces, Germany In his excellent analysis, Holger Niemann tellingly demonstrates the constitutive role of normative controversy for the constitution and maintenance of order in the UN Security Council. By introducing concepts and premises from the pragmatist sociology of critique, the book is an important contribution to a better understanding of the complex roles of norms and legitimacy in international organizations. This comprehensive book provides valuable and novel insights into practices and programmatic developments of the Security Council, which will be also of great interest for scholars in IR and international political sociology. - Tobias Debiel, Kate Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Holger Niemann's book lands at an auspicious time. It explores how contested ideas about global security are represented, defined, and fought over at the Security Council in the United Nations. The Council has tremendous power to act on behalf of international security but only the vaguest guidance on what that means. Niemann shows how the Council has filled that ambiguous term with specific meaning - and meanings - over the years at the service of various interests. - Ian Hurd, Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, USA