The power of the public sphere: (anti)diplomacy and crisis management within security communities

Book section

In Corneliu Bjola and Markus Kornprobst (eds) Arguing Global Governance: Agency, Lifeworld and Shared Reasons. London: Routledge

This book chapter develops an analytical framework for understanding how political tensions undermine the viability of the transatlantic security community. I argue the legitimacy of the security communities is primarily shaped by its public sphere through two critical status functions, will- and opinion-formation. Deficient performance of these two components erodes members’ confidence in the identity and institutions of the community. The empirical validity of the theoretical framework is confirmed by the analysis of the diplomatic crisis involving the European Union and the United States over the latter’s intervention in Iraq in 2003.

Authors: Bjola, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Routledge
• Host title: Arguing Global Governance : Agency, Lifeworld and Shared Reasoning
• Publication date: 2010-01-01
• ISBN: 9780415572170