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Despite the imperative to pay attention to the words we use as a routine dimension of research, the methodological and pedagogical tools illustrating how to work on our own use of language are largely missing within and beyond international relations (IR). To address this gap, we develop a method—the "Reflexive Review"—which adds a linguistic and reflexive dimension to the common practice of a literature review. This method is accessible for researchers who are neither linguistic specialists nor working on language and can be integrated within a standalone research project. First, we review the existing traditions used in IR to investigate language—quantitative text analysis, conceptual analysis, discourse analysis, deconstruction, and problematization—and assess their interest and limits regarding linguistic reflexivity. Second, we introduce four methodological steps for conducting the Reflexive Review, by reviewing literature to: (1) build a list of "priority words" that may need reflexive attention; (2) look for metalinguistic statements to synthesize how the literature has explicitly discussed these words; (3) identify patterns of word use, as collectively shared meanings that coexist and that we should become aware of; and (4) compare the identified uses of language with our own. Third, we demonstrate the Reflexive Review in practice based on a word commonly used in IR: "local." We identify four patterns of the word use of "local" in IR literature as: a class of actors, a level of analysis, community, and experiences of the everyday. In sum, we demonstrate how a Reflexive Review enables us to implement reflexivity in practice and make more conscious linguistic choices, to support more nuanced, ethical, and rigorous analysis and empirical work.

This article contributes to debates on appropriate levels of analysis, temporality, and the utility of fieldwork in relation to Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS), and International Relations more generally. It observes a recentism or privileging of the recent past in our studies and a consequent overlooking of the longer term. As a corrective, the article investigates the extent to which wartime memoirs and personal diaries (specifically from World War I and World War II) can help inform the study of contemporary peace and conflict. In essence, the article is a reflection on the epistemologies and methodologies employed by PCS and an investigation of the need for greater contextualisation.

How can we appreciate non-Western agency in theorising world politics without reintroducing parochialism and exceptionalism, thus reproducing the very problem that motivated global international relations (IR) in the first place? In this article, I explore an alternative approach to engaging with non-Western IR theories, which I refer to as the embedded observer approach. First, taking the scholarship on Chinese IR as an example, I argue that the present predicament of global IR is in part attributable to the way scholars engage with non-Western political thought. Drawing from discussions in critical IR and Comparative Political Theory, I propose a methodological adjustment for the study of non-Western theories. Specifically, I argue that by shifting focus from isolated scholars and texts to critical dialogues among autochthonous intellectuals, the researcher has the chance to learn about and appreciate the clashes of ideas, analytical perspectives, and methodological tools that together constitute the living intellectual tradition in a non-Western society. As a demonstration, I analyse the People's Republic of China (PRC) scholars' critical reaction to Zhao Tingyang's Tianxia System through the lens of three key topics in the debate over the thesis. The discussion highlights the need to rethink interlocutors in global IR and the utility of an embedded observer approach for engaging with knowledge traditions beyond the West, both in IR and beyond.

Fake News und Desinformations-Kampagnen sind derzeit in aller Munde. Aber wann genau können wir überhaupt von Fake News sprechen? Gibt es völkerrechtliche Normen, die die Verbreitung von falschen oder manipulierten Informationen regeln? Und wie verhält sich das Völkerrecht zum Spiegelbild der (Des-)Informationsverbreitung, der Informationsgewinnung? Isabel erklärt im Grundlagenteil, wie Informationen durch Spionage gewonnen werden und ob das im Völkerrecht eigentlich zulässig ist. Im Interview spricht Sophie mit Dr. Björnstjern Baade, der zum Thema Wahrheit im Recht habilitiert, über Desinformation und Fake News, alte, nicht angewendete Völkerrechtsverträge und warum chilling effects für die Meinungsfreiheit bei der Bekämpfung von Desinformation vermieden werden müssen. Wir freuen uns über Lob, Anmerkungen und Kritik an podcast@voelkerrechtsblog.org oder hier in den Kommentaren. Abonniert unseren Podcast via RSS, über Spotify oder überall dort, wo es Podcasts gibt. Hintergrundinformationen: Björnstjern Baade, Don't Call a Spade a Shovel: Crucial Subtleties in the Definition of Fake News and Disinformation, Verfassungsblog, 14. April 2020, DOI:10.17176/20200415-032634-0. Moderation: Sophie Schuberth & Erik Tuchtfeld Grundlagenteil: Isabel Lischewski Interview: Dr. Björnstjern Baade & Sophie Schuberth Schnitt: Daniela Rau & Philipp Eschenhagen Technische Unterstützung: Anna Sophia Tiedeke Credits: Ursula von der Leyen, 31. März 2020, Europäische Kommission – Audiovisueller Dienst Konstantin Kuhle, 22. April 2021 im Deutschen Bundestag

Wer Staat ist, ist Völkerrechtssubjekt und darf Mitmachen im Spiel der Großen und Gleichen. Deshalb führt die Frage der Qualifikation als Staat auch immer wieder zu Streit und Konflikten, beschäftigt (nationale und internationale) Gerichte und die (Völker-)Rechtswissenschaft. Isabel betont die Service-Qualität des Podcasts und führt uns im Grundlagenteil durch ein Do-It-Yourself der Staatengründung. Im Interview spricht Erik mit Prof. Dr. Andreas Zimmermann über die Staatlichkeit Palästinas, über Ergänzungsmöglichkeiten für die klassische Drei-Elemente-Lehre und die Frage, inwiefern Staatlichkeit absolut ist oder eine Entität auch "ein bisschen Staat" sein kann. Wir freuen uns über Lob, Anmerkungen und Kritik an podcast@voelkerrechtsblog.org oder hier in den Kommentaren. Abonniert unseren Podcast via RSS, über Spotify, Apple Podcasts oder überall dort, wo es Podcasts gibt. Hintergrundinformationen: Sealand-Entscheidung des VG Köln, 03.05.1978 – 9 K 2565/77 ICJ, 22. Juli 2010, Advisory Opinion, Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo ICC Pre-Trial Chamber, 05. Februar 2021, Decision on the 'Prosecution request pursuant to article 19(3) for a ruling on the Court's territorial jurisdiction in Palestine' (Pressemitteilung mit Link zur Entscheidung) Moderation: Sophie Schuberth & Erik Tuchtfeld Grundlagenteil: Isabel Lischewski Interview: Prof. Dr. Andreas Zimmermann & Erik Tuchtfeld Schnitt: Daniela Rau Credits: Federica Mogherini, 26. November 2014, Europäische Kommission – Audiovisueller Dienst Hisashi Owada, 22. Juli 2010, Die Vereinten Nationen auf Youtube

One of the theoretical tensions that has arisen from Anthropocene studies is what Dipesh Chakrabarty has called the 'two figures of the human', and the question of which of these two figures of the human inheres in the concept of the Anthropocene more. On the one hand, the Human is conceived as the universal reasoning subject upon whom political rights and equality are based, and on the other hand, humankind is the collection of all individuals of our species, with all of the inequalities, differences, and variability inherent in any species category. This chapter takes up Deborah Coen's argument that Chakrabarty's claim of the 'incommensurability' of these two figures of the human ignores the way both were constructed within debates over how to relate local geophysical specificities to theoretical generalities. This chapter examines two cases in the history of science. The first is Martin Rudwick's historical exploration of how geologists slowly gained the ability to use fossils and highly local stratigraphic surveys to reconstruct the history of the Earth in deep time, rather than resort to speculative cosmological theory. The second is Coen's own history of imperial, Austrian climate science, a case where early nineteenth-century assumptions about the capriciousness of the weather gave way to theories of climate informed by thermodynamics and large-scale data collection.