ABSTRACT

International Relations often depicts “Islamist” actors as a threat to the existing world order. While scholars have criticized this view in recent years, the question of how “Islamist” actors discursively construct and relate to the liberal world order has yet to be investigated. This chapter suggests understanding the world order as plural discourses on sovereignties, legitimacies and teleologies. It develops the concept of sovereignties further to show how even within “Western” discourse this notion is contested. Finally, it elaborates on how this can methodologically be used to assess connectivity and conflict with “Islamist” discourses on the world order.