PUBlications
DENNIS R. SCHMIDT
SENIOR LECTURER (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR) IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE | INTERNATIONAL LAW | ETHICS
LATEST
'On the meaning(s) of norms: Ambiguity and global governance in a post-hegemonic world', Review of International studies. Open access.
'Pluralism and international law in the English School', Cambridge Review of International Affairs. Part of a special issue on the current status of English School theory in IR. read more
ABOUT
I am a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Relations at Swansea University, UK. My work on global order, international law, and world politics combines ethics with conceptual frames to explore ideas and practices of global governance. I am a frequent contributor to media on current international events. read more
Upcoming talk
TEDx Swansea 2022
I will be joining amazing lineup of speakers at this year's TEDx Swansea event. Taking place on the 9th of June at Swansea Stadium, UK, the theme for the event is “Tomorrows World”, which gives a a fantastic platform for discussion of everything that we can expect now and in the future. More information on my talk coming soon.
Latest publication
On the meaning(s) of norms: Ambiguity and global governance in a post-hegemonic world
Thomas LInsenmaier, Dennis R. Schmidt, and Kilian Spandler
This article offers a new conceptualisation of the meaning of norms in world politics. It starts from the observation that existing norm scholarship in International Relations has underestimated the role of ambiguity in the constitution of norm meaning. To address this shortcoming, we advance a conceptualisation that sees norm polysemy – the empirically observable plurality of norm meanings-in-use – as resulting from the enactment of inherently ambiguous norms in different contexts.
