ABSTRACT
Completing the theoretical journey, the potential issues and limits of language—in particular how language addresses the thorny problem of structure and power—are explored. Contrasting views on how language is used by actors, in a Habermasian sense where language is focused on persuasion, or Lyotard’s formulation of language as coercive, furthermore offer two directions for critical constructivism. With Habermas’ view of language dominating the language of norms—and therefore part of the problem—it turns to language as coercive in nature, fundamentally with power. In this formulation of language we see local agents such as ASEAN as both vulnerable and also capable of effecting change. The scene is therefore set to bring back Mattern’s representational force, a model premised on demonstrating how actors contest meaning and identity. Such a constructivism, and such a model, both open up a space for seeing how human rights has served as a powerful catalyst for change within the ASEAN-EU relationship—one contested and led by both actors.
CRITICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM, COERCIVE LANGUAGE, REPRESENTATIONAL FORCE
