Bridging Meaning across Disciplines

Construction, Interpretation and Categorisation in Armed Conflict

Abstract

This research investigates how the disciplines of social science and law construct meaning in fundamentally different ways, and how these divergent disciplinary approaches shape the categorisation of actors in international armed conflicts. It juxtaposes social constructionism, which emphasises the fluidity, contextuality and performativity of categorisation, with the interpretive methodology codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which seeks determinacy, stability and objectivity. Focusing on asymmetric conflicts such as anti-colonial struggles, the research explores how political discourse constructs labels like ‘terrorist’ or ‘freedom fighter’ to reinforce dominant narratives, while international humanitarian law imposes strict binary categories such as ‘combatant’ and ‘civilian’. The approaches are placed in dialogue to reveal tensions, overlaps and the potential for mutual enrichment. Ultimately, the article draws attention to the implicit, often obscured effects of categorisation and advocates for a more reflexive, interdisciplinary engagement with processes of meaning-making.