2009 Vincent Lemieux Prize
Winner: Vincent Pouliot (University of Toronto)
Security Community In and Through Practice: The Power Politics of Russian-NATO Diplomacy
Excerpt from jury report: Vincent Pouliot’s dissertation is impressive on multiple levels. It draws on a broad range of theories in fields ranging from international relations to the sociology of knowledge. It is based on highly detailed research, including interviews in North America, Western Europe, and Russia. It is elegantly written. The empirical analysis of the post-Cold War evolution of Russia-NATO relations is highly convincing. Most importantly, the dissertation is highly innovative theoretically. It breaks new theoretical ground in an analysis of security communities without prior collective identity formation, as well as in a sophisticated account of the priority of practical knowledge and habitus to consequentialist and normative reasoning. Overall, the author makes major methodological advances in constructivist theory and international relations generally, including developing the method of “subjectivism” to interpret the behaviour of (international) actors.