A Rhetorical Field Theory
Foregrounding Background Contestation in the Nuclear Weapons Field

By Markus Kornprobst and Martin Senn

Abstract

How do actors make and unmake political order? This paper outlines a rhetorical field theory to address this question. Our conceptualization of the background draws heavily from Bourdieu. We conceptualize it as doxa, and differentiate between nomos and topoi. Yet our accounts of communication and change are much more eclectic. Injecting more room for agency into theorising on fields, we allude to the persuasive power of arguments that make use of the overlaps of fields and topical communities within a field. Our case-study on the nuclear weapons field underlines the added value of this field theory. It combines a nuanced understanding of the background with an equally nuanced understanding of communication. Therefore, it provides novel insights into the processes through which agents change backgrounds.

Keywords: agency, background ideas, field theory, ideational change, nuclear weapons, rhetoric

Last draft before final version and publication in British Journal of Politics and International Relations 18/2 (2016) [with Martin Senn] {in special forum: Background Ideas in International Relations, edited with Martin Senn}

Full bibliographical details: Kornprobst, Markus, and Martin Senn. „A rhetorical field theory: Background, communication, and change.“ The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 18.2 (2016): 300-317.