The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 marked a turning point in international politics and human rights debates. Following the withdrawal of international forces and the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Taliban re-established an authoritarian theocracy that systematically curtailed women’s and girls’ rights.
Since then, the United Nations (UN) has faced a profound dilemma: while it does not formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, it continues to cooperate with them in practice to deliver humanitarian aid and maintain basic governance functions. This duality reveals a deep tension between legal non-recognition and pragmatic engagement—especially in light of the UN’s feminist commitments embedded in CEDAW (1979) and the Women, Peace and Security agenda (UNSCR 1325). The UN’s interactions with the Taliban challenge the coherence of these normative frameworks and raise critical questions about how far feminist principles can be upheld in contexts of repression.
My thesis asks: What does the UN’s engagement with the Taliban reveal about the practical limits and tensions of its normative commitments to women’s rights in the context of an emerging process of recognition?
Recognition here is not viewed as a binary or strictly legal act, but as a performative and discursive process shaped through diplomatic language, routines, and institutional practices. Drawing on Gëzim Visoka’s critical recognition theory and practice-oriented approaches from Frost, Lechner, and Brandom, the analysis explores how recognition takes shape through meaning-making processes. Four sensitizing concepts—recognition, representation, de facto authorities, and engagement (following Antje Wiener)—guide the interpretive framework.
Empirically, the study analyzes two key UN statements: Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks on Afghanistan (May 2023) and a press conference by Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo (July 2024). Through these texts, the thesis identifies verbal and non-verbal practices that illustrate how the UN navigates the boundary between normative fidelity and operational necessity.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theory
2.1 The declarative and the constituting recognition of states
2.2 A critical approach to recognition
3. Methodology
3.1 Language-games in IR
3.2 Robert Brandom’s Inferentialism and Normative Commitments
3.3 The interplay of language-games and inferentialism
4. Method
4.1 Sensitizing reading
4.2 Practice and discourse formations
4.3 The interplay of sensitizing reading and practice/discourse formations
4.4 The empirical material
5. The UN’s feminist agenda
5.1 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
5.2 The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
5.3 The Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS)
5.4 Interim conclusion
6. The Taliban
6.1 Implementing UNSCR 1325 in Afghanistan
6.2 Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan
7. Analysis
7.1 Sensitizing concepts
7.2 Analyzing the UN discourse on recognition
7.3 Analysis of António Guterres’ remarks at press encounter on Afghanistan
7.4 Analysis of the press conference by Rosemary DiCarlo after Doha III
8. Discussion
9. Conclusion
10. References
Appendix
A. Transcript of Secretary-General's António Guterres’ opening remarks at press encounter on Afghanistan in Doha, May 2nd 2023
B. Transcript of Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo’s remarks at the press conference during Doha III on July 1st 2024
Research Objective and Themes
This thesis examines the tension between the United Nations’ official non-recognition of the Taliban and its continued practical engagement with them, analyzing how this contradictory posture affects the coherence of the UN's feminist normative framework and its commitment to women's rights in Afghanistan.
- Critical recognition theory as a multidimensional process.
- Practice-theoretical approach using Wittgensteinian language-games.
- Robert Brandom’s inferentialism and normative commitments.
- Antje Wiener’s method of sensitizing reading for normative analysis.
- The intersection of feminist agenda (CEDAW/WPS) and geopolitical pragmatic engagement.
Excerpt from the Book
7.3 Analysis of António Guterres’ remarks at press encounter on Afghanistan
Representation is the first sensitizing concept to be addressed in the first document at hand (United Nations 2023, appendix A, ll. 2-66). After initially thanking the government of Quatar for the hospitality and mentioning why Guterres was in Doha, the SG directly outlines that the meeting was held after passing UNSCR 2681 on April 27th “[…] calling for full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan […]”and that “[t]he spirit of the unity shown in the adoption of the resolution was carried over into the meeting we [Guterres and the delegates] just had” (United Nations 2023, appendix A, ll. 12-13). This is a strong emphasis on the UN’s commitment to the own feminist agenda and it frames the representation of women as prioritized by all members of the Security Council which together stands for a clear and consensual commitment to the rules of the language-game. Even though the resolution’s content is put very shortly by Guterres, the SG makes it a theme of the meeting by saying that “[t]he spirit of unity […] was carried over into the meeting we just had” (United Nations 2023, appendix A, ll. 10-11). Guterres not only practically acknowledges the women’s reality of life in Afghanistan and puts it on top of the agenda (which meets the UN’s usual standard of the significance of women’s rights – especially in Afghanistan (UNAMA n.d.)) but further underlines that representation is essential to improve the situation of women and to maintain it, as put down in UNSCR 2681 (United Nations Security Council 2023c). This shows that the involved actors stick to the rules of the game and manifest this set of social standards by rule-following. But Guterres speaks for women – women cannot speak for themselves here. Therefore, there is no possibility of asking for or giving reasons concerning the content of the conference.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the central puzzle regarding the UN's paradoxical engagement with the Taliban despite non-recognition and its commitment to feminist principles.
2. Theory: Outlines the theoretical foundations, contrasting declarative and constitutive recognition theories with Gëzim Visoka’s critical approach.
3. Methodology: Details the methodological framework using Frost and Lechner’s language-games and Robert Brandom’s inferentialism to analyze normative interactions.
4. Method: Explains the analytical tools, specifically Antje Wiener’s sensitizing reading and Andreas Reckwitz’s practice/discourse formations, used to examine the empirical material.
5. The UN’s feminist agenda: Traces the historical development of the UN’s commitment to women’s rights through the UDHR, CEDAW, and the WPS agenda.
6. The Taliban: Examines the Taliban's history, ideology, and their regressive impact on Afghan women since their return to power in 2021.
7. Analysis: Applies the theoretical and methodological framework to analyze UN press transcripts, focusing on how engagement practices reshape recognition dynamics.
8. Discussion: Synthesizes findings on how linguistic framing and pragmatic engagement erode normative boundaries while maintaining a veneer of principle.
9. Conclusion: Summarizes how the UN’s practices inadvertently contribute to the implicit recognition of the Taliban while challenging its own normative coherence.
Keywords
United Nations, Taliban, Recognition, Feminist Agenda, Women's Rights, Afghanistan, Language-games, Inferentialism, WPS Agenda, CEDAW, Normative Framework, Diplomatic Engagement, Critical Recognition, Practice Theory, Gender Apartheid.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this research primarily about?
This research investigates the discrepancy between the United Nations’ stated commitment to feminist values and women's rights and its practical diplomatic engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
What are the core thematic areas?
The study centers on international recognition theories, feminist normative frameworks (CEDAW, WPS), and the role of language and social practices in shaping international politics.
What is the primary research question?
The research asks what the UN's engagement with the Taliban reveals about the practical limits and tensions of its normative commitments to women's rights within the context of an emerging process of recognition.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The thesis utilizes a practice-theoretical framework combining Wittgensteinian language-games, Robert Brandom’s inferentialism, Antje Wiener’s sensitizing reading, and Andreas Reckwitz’s discourse formations.
What does the main body cover?
The main body establishes the theoretical and methodological foundations, historical context of the UN's feminist agenda and the Taliban's emergence, and conducts a detailed discourse analysis of official UN press transcripts.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include United Nations, Taliban, Recognition, Feminist Agenda, Women's Rights, Afghanistan, Normative Framework, and Diplomatic Engagement.
Why does the author use the term "de facto authorities"?
The author uses this term as a "sensitizing concept" to analyze how the UN employs labels to maintain diplomatic utility while simultaneously avoiding the legal implications of formal recognition.
How does the author define the UN's "language-game"?
The language-game refers to the rule-based interactions within the UN, where recognition is enacted not through singular legal acts, but through a series of verbal and non-verbal performative practices.
What is the significance of the "Gender Apartheid" context?
The author argues that the Taliban's systematic discrimination against women constitutes "Gender Apartheid," which makes the UN's engagement with them a direct contradiction to its own fundamental human rights standards.
How do "inferential networks" function in this analysis?
Inferential networks are used to show how statements and actions by UN officials carry implicit commitments; by engaging with the Taliban as "authorities," the UN implicitly accepts their political relevance, which justifies further cooperation.
- Citar trabajo
- Benjamin Ruttke (Autor), 2025, The Politics of Recognition. The Case of the UN in dealing with the Recognition of the Taliban as the Legitimate Government of Afghanistan, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1696181
