Tackling Epistemic and Cognitive Injustice in Political Dialogue: The Case of OACPS–EU Relations

Abstract

This article examines the preconditions for an epistemically and cognitively more just form of political dialogue. Such dialogue requires treating each participant and their knowledges as equal as well as securing the participant’s epistemic and material possibilities to engage in deliberation. Drawing on Iris M. Young’s communicative ethics and both Walter D. Mignolo’s and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s decolonial theorising, I suggest three moves for realising these conditions. Thus, I bring feminist epistemology and decolonial thought into a mutually enriching discussion and put forward ideals that are important for improving accounts of political deliberation in world politics. Empirically, the analysis contributes to an understanding of epistemic and cognitive injustices and related colonial tendencies in the relationship between the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and European Union (EU). Moreover, I provide policy proposals for reducing the identified injustices and other associated asymmetries between the parties in the post-Cotonou era. Lutter contre les injustices épistémiques et cognitives dans le dialogue politique : le cas des relations entre l’OEACP et l’UE