| Summary/Abstract |
Comparing conflicts intentionally and consciously ascribes meaning to a political subject. When Afghanistan is linked to Vietnam, or its democratic development to Switzerland, normative scales are introduced to order discursive practice. Discovering meaning and making meaning is what Simone de Beauvoir (1947) views as existential condition of human beings: political acts are measured against existing norms of the acceptable. In conjunction with Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge (2015), this article explains the social situatedness of crisis knowledge and the norms enshrined therein. In conflict comparisons, reservoirs of knowledge are being connected and repertoires of action prescribed. Based on these theoretical approaches, the article unpacks the power relations and political intentions at work in these comparisons.
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