Abstract

This paper discusses the complex and not always obvious epistemological choices necessitated by the use of narrative. It argues that the central contribution of narrative to IR is to enrich our understanding of the relationship between structures of meaning and logics of action. Narratives are vehicles of sedimented but immanently transformative logics of action, which constitute coherent and intelligible contexts of interaction. Narrative contextualism shares its hermeneutical concerns with other analytical perspectives in IR, and offers an ethnomethodologically inclined epistemological compass and a normatively receptive understanding of international practice. Narrative signals an intense need for contextualisation in IR, with epistemological, methodological and normative consequences. Epistemologically, narrative engages directly the tension between conceptual logic and contextual praxis that is the nub of any hermeneutics, and calls for attention to context as well as contextualisation of concepts. Normatively, narrative contextualism recognizes the inherent ethical content of any discussion of the merits of particular logics of action in international politics.