Professor Antje Wiener
Professor of Politics and International Relations at Bath

My research interests and publications are in International Relations theories (IR), International Law and Global Constitutionalism. I apply a bifocal approach including both normative and empirical research to explore the role of fundamental norms and their impact on the - invisible - constitution of world politics. The research has been conducted within international interdisciplinary research contexts and was supported by research grants, among others, from the British Academy, the European Union, the Social and Legal Studies Association and other fellowships and collaboration grants.

Citizenship and International Relations Theories

This new project explores the long-time absence and recent presence of work on citizenship and in International Relations theory. It focuses on the limits of civilisation that are inherent in modern political theory and discusses possibilities of transcending these limits based on the four leading theses about just and fair global politics: legalisation, constitutionalisation, democratisation and subalternasiation.

Activating the Normative Structure: Explaining Failed Security Policy Coordination

This project focuses on contested norms in international negotiations. It is part of Work Package 6 of the Integrated Research Project RECON which explores the possibilities of Reconstituting Democracy in Europe and is financed by the European Union's 6th Framework Programme (project: outline).

Team: Prof Antje Wiener, Bath, Dr Uwe Puetter, Budapest, Michael Clarke, Bath, Hannes Hansen-Magnusson, Bath and Tomas Adell, Belfast.

Contested Meanings and Democratic Governance

This project has been developed within the CONNEX Network of Excellence financed by the European Union's 6th Framework Programme. This project led to a special issue on Contested Meanings of Norms: The Challenge of Democratic Governance beyond the State, Comparative European Politics, 5, 1 2007, April.

Democratic Constitutionalism

This project on involves the publication of ConWEB Webpapers on Constitutionalism and Governance Beyond the State, co-edited with Prof Jutta Brunnee, Toronto, and Prof Antje Wiener, Bath, and the workshop on 'Constitutionalisation' at the ECPR Joint Workshop Sessions in Rennes 2008 convened by Prof Rainer Schmalz-Bruns, Hannover, and Prof Antje Wiener, Bath (call for papers).

The Invisible Constitution of Politics

This project has been supported by various British Academy grants, a fellowship at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Delmenhorst, a fellowship as‘Guest of the President’ at the Science Centre for Social Research (WZB) in Berlin as well as the Social and Legal Studies Association (SLSA). It has been completed in 2008 and the findings are published in The Invisible Constitution of Politics: Contested Norms and International Encounters, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Renegotiating Rights: Labour Regulation and the Enlargement of the European Union

In order to secure social cohesion and legitimacy it is crucial for every state to meet and to react to certain historically institutionalised expectations and demands of its citizens. However, in a world undergoing dramatic changes this task may become difficult. Borders become more and more permeable and states face diverse pressures from above and below. Will these changes hollow out the state in the long run, or, is there some way of moderate reform that could help the state persist as a strong pattern of societal organisation, even in post-national settings?

The project was conducted with the research assistance of Dr Thomas Pfister and financed by a British Academy's Larger Research Grant. It has been completed in 2007. For details and downloads klick here.

Border Conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland