TheTheory of Contestation advances critical norms research in international relations. It scrutinises the uses of contestation in international relations theories with regard to its descriptive and normative potential. To that end, critical investigations into international relations are conducted based on three thinking tools from public philosophy and the social sciences: The normativity premise, the diversity premise and cultural cosmopolitanism. The resulting theory of contestation entails four main features, namely types of norms, modes of contestation, segments of norms and the cycle of contestation. The theory distinguishes between the principle of contestedness and the practice of contestation and argues that, if contestedness is accepted as a meta-organising principle of global governance, regular access to contestation for all involved stakeholders will enhance legitimate governance in the global realm.

Antje Wiener, PhD Carleton (1996), Dipl Pol FU Berlin (1989) is a Professor of Political Science especially Global Governance at the University of Hamburg. Her previous publications includeThe Invisible Constitution of Politics: Contested Norms and International Encounters (CUP, 2008) andEuropean Citizenship Practice: Building Institutions of a Non-State (West view, 1998). She is founding co-editor of the interdisciplinary journalGlobal Constitutionalism (CUP, since 2012) and has published widely on norms in international relations theories, European integration theories and on global constitutionalism. She was named as Academician of the Social Sciences in the United Kingdom in 2011.

Introduction: Contestation as a Norm-Generative Social Practice.- The Normativity Premise: The Normative Power of Contestation.- The Diversity Premise: The Legitimacy Gap in International Relations.- Cultural Cosmopolitanism: Contestedness and Contestation.- Thinking Tools and Central Concepts of the Theory of Contestation.- Applying the Theory of Contestation: Three Sectors of Global Governance.- Conclusion: Why a New Theory of Contestation?.