scholarly journals Exploring mechanisms of whiteness: how counterterrorism practitioners disrupt anti-racist expertise

2022 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-243
Author(s):  
Amal Abu-Bakare
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Subject

Abstract This article situates the subject of the academic–practitioner (AP) exchange within an International Relations-orientated critique of the imperial dynamics of counterterrorism practices and racial subjugation. It uses an analytical framework that upholds the significance of racial hierarchy to knowledge production. A key contribution of this article is to situate the AP nexus within the circumstances of liberal democratic counterterrorism regimes, to demonstrate how race becomes meaningful to the knowledge that is produced about Islamophobia. The main argument of this article is that in present policy debates concerning the existence of systemic racism, one of the mechanisms enabling counterterrorism practitioners to regulate the AP exchange is that of institutionalized whiteness. Exploring two scenarios of AP exchanges in the United Kingdom and Canada, where counterterrorism practitioners were challenged to reconcile with academic explanations of Islamophobia as a systemic issue, this article uses colour-line inspired critiques of white logic to identify instances where anti-racist knowledge was subjugated in the name of imperialism. The article finds that in each scenario discussed, practitioners demonstrate trajectories of white logic by contesting the suitability of anti-racist knowledge put forward by academics, on the basis of racial hierarchy and self-aggrandizement. It concludes by discussing how a lack of practitioner–academic consensus continues to affect the dissemination of knowledge concerning systemic racism, thus prompting considerations of what this means for an anti-racist future.

Bringing Researchers Back In: Debating the Role of Interpretive Epistemology in Global IR

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothée Vandamme
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Knowledge Accumulation ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The Subject

Abstract The article discusses interpretive epistemology in international relations (IR) and its advantages to address the field's sociological composition, its scholars’ identity, and knowledge structuration. The research proposes to engage in sociological reflexivity on IR methods and the way in which knowledge accumulation and structuration are driven by canonical assumptions of what are considered “normal”/“good” scientific procedures. The central argument focuses on interpretive epistemological approaches as possible venues for research to participate in the collective effort to address, and redress, the imbalance between the sociology of the field and its knowledge production and structuration processes. By allowing dialogue around meanings and interpretation among increasingly diverse members, an interpretive stance on IR opens the floor to criticism and rival interpretations. More specifically, the paper presents the methodology of interpretive phenomenological analysis as a method which both emphasizes context and actor specificity with regard to the subject of study and fully acknowledges the researcher's identity and voice in scientific inquiry.

Chiasmatic crossings: A reflexive revisit of a research encounter in European security

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xymena Kurowska ◽  
Benjamin C. Tallis
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Security ◽  
Normative Authority ◽  
Security Research ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Knowledge Claims

This article makes an argument about chiasmatic knowledge production that seeks to cut across the entrenched division between the subject and object of inquiry, on the one hand, and the narrative and normative authority of the scholar, on the other, that is inherent in most writing in international relations. We revisit our own research encounter in the field of European security to explore the premises and implications of fieldwork relationships between researchers and practitioners and show their potentially transformative effects. Classifying such engagements as acts of professional transgression by both sets of parties overlooks their promise to facilitate the understanding of security practice ‘from within’ and to provide for tangible scholarly and political criticality. It is argued that, in the restricted realm of security, extensive interaction with practitioners could be a proxy for participant observation. Yet, we look further than that. We develop a concept of ‘chiasmatic crossings’ that reflects and helps theorize the ideational give-and-take and conceptual ruptures in the process of co-authorship that are indicative of distinct trajectories in European security research. This challenges the knowledge claims and static positions of both ‘problem-solving’ and ‘critical’ scholars in the field.

Decolonizing International Relations: Confronting Erasures through Indigenous Knowledge Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Ananya Sharma
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Scientific Rationality ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Valid Knowledge ◽  
The Subject

The discipline of international relations (IR) has often been critiqued for geo-centric parochialism with scholars increasingly engaging with its colonial origins and legacies. This recent engagement underscores the necessity to unravel and disrupt the epistemic sites of hierarchized power and knowledge relations manifested through dichotomous categorizations like ‘primitive/civilized’, ‘rational-irrational’ and ‘traditional-modern’. The concerns regarding ‘epistemic imperialism’ stemming from the superiority granted to the modern science over non-Western knowledges are founded on the distinction between nature and culture that hinges upon the separation of the subject from the object. Coloniality thus reconfigures itself through the use of scientific-rational methodology and it is pertinent to reframe the colonial question beyond the questions of epistemology and ontology to unpack ‘traditional knowledges’ as a source of valid knowledge. This article offers a methodological contribution to the larger debate on ‘coloniality of power’ by critiquing the disembodied monoculture associated with modern scientific rationality. Drawing upon Boaventura De Sousa Santos’s notion of ‘ecology of knowledges’, the article focuses on the issue of ‘epistemic imperialism’ and utilizes indigenous knowledge systems as an analytical framework with emancipatory potential representing one of the possible means of decolonizing knowledge and advancing the case for epistemological plurality within the discipline of IR. The article proposes an epistemic re-centring within the IR academia by posing vexatious ethical questions hidden behind issues of epistemic inequality.

Oversight

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Minta
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Linked Fate ◽  
Congressional Oversight ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Minority Interests ◽  
Black And Latino

This book answers the question of whether black and Latino legislators better represent minority interests in Congress than white legislators, and it is the first book on the subject to focus on congressional oversight rather than roll-call voting. The book demonstrates that minority lawmakers provide qualitatively better representation of black and Latino interests than their white counterparts. They are more likely to intervene in decision making by federal agencies by testifying in support of minority interests at congressional oversight hearings. Minority legislators write more letters urging agency officials to enforce civil rights policies, and spend significant time and effort advocating for solutions to problems that affect all racial and ethnic groups, such as poverty, inadequate health care, fair housing, and community development. This book argues that minority members of Congress act on behalf of broad minority interests—inside and outside their districts—because of a shared bond of experience and a sense of linked fate. It shows how the presence of black and Latino legislators in the committee room increases the chances that minority perspectives and concerns will be addressed in committee deliberations, and also how minority lawmakers are effective at countering negative stereotypes about minorities in policy debates on issues like affirmative action and affordable housing.

Liberal Internationalism from George W. Bush to Barack Obama

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Global War On Terrorism ◽  
Liberal Internationalism ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Global War

This chapter examines the United States' liberal democratic internationalism from George W. Bush to Barack Obama. It first considers the Bush administration's self-ordained mission to win the “global war on terrorism” by reconstructing the Middle East and Afghanistan before discussing the two time-honored notions of Wilsonianism espoused by Democrats to make sure that the United States remained the leader in world affairs: multilateralism and nation-building. It then explores the liberal agenda under Obama, whose first months in office seemed to herald a break with neoliberalism, and his apparent disinterest in the rhetoric of democratic peace theory, along with his discourse on the subject of an American “responsibility to protect” through the promotion of democracy abroad. The chapter also analyzes the Obama administration's economic globalization and concludes by comparing the liberal internationalism of Bush and Obama.

Contemporary Machiavellian theses "The strategy of the role of the absurd state as a model"

2020 ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Ali Hussein Hameed ◽  
Saif Hayder AL.Husainy
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Information Revolution ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Area Of Influence ◽  
The Right ◽  
Modern Technologies

In the anarchism that governs the nature and patterns of international relations characterized by instability and uncertainty in light of several changes, as well as the information revolution and the resulting developments and qualitative breakthroughs in the field of scientific and advanced technological knowledge and modern technologies.  All of these variables pushed toward the information flow and flow tremendously, so rationality became an indispensable matter for the decision maker as he faces these developments and changes. There must be awareness and rationality in any activity or behavior because it includes choosing the best alternative and making the right decision and selecting the information accurately and mental processing Through a mental system based on objectivity, methodology, and accumulated experience away from idealism and imagination, where irrationality and anarchy are a reflection of the fragility of the decision-maker, his lack of awareness of the subject matter, his irresponsibility, and recklessness that inevitably leads to failure by wasting time and Effort and potential. The topic acquires its importance from a search in the strategies of the frivolous state and its characteristics with the ability to influence the regional, and what it revealed is a turning point in how to adapt from the variables and employ them to their advantage and try to prove their existence. Thus, the problem comes in the form of a question about the possibility of the frivolous state in light of the context of various regional and international events and trends. The answer to this question stems from the main hypothesis that (the aim which the frustrating state seeks to prove is that it finds itself compelled to choose several strategies that start from the nature of its characteristics and the goals that aim at it, which are centered in the circle of its interests in the field of its struggle for the sake of its survival and area of influence).

CAPITAL MAINTENANCE: A NEGLECTED NOTION

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar S. Gellein
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Capital Maintenance ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Subject

This paper traces in descriptive fashion some of the developments of thought about capital maintenance during this century. The adverse consequences of neglecting the subject are mentioned after a basic review of the concepts. Contrasts among the theories from the United Kingdom and Ireland, Canada, Australia and other countries are also made.

Poverty and Sources of Income Support Among Older People With Disabilities and Out of Work: Comparison of Canada and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
WEN-HAO CHEN ◽  
LEE BENTLEY ◽  
MARGARET WHITEHEAD ◽  
ASHLEY MCALLISTER ◽  
BENJAMIN BARR
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Poverty Risk ◽  
Public Transfers ◽  
Low Educated ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Government Transfers

Abstract The debate about extending working lives in response to population ageing often overlooks the lack of employment opportunity for older adults with disabilities. Without work, their living standards depend heavily on government transfers. This study contributes to the literature on health inequalities by analysing the sources of income and poverty outcomes for people aged 50 to 64 in two liberal democratic countries yet with contrasting disability benefit contexts – Canada and the United Kingdom. This choice of countries offers the opportunity to assess whether the design of benefit systems has led the most disadvantaged groups to fare differently between countries. Overall, disabled older persons without work faced a markedly higher risk of poverty in Canada than in the UK. Public transfers played a much greater role in the UK, accounting for two-thirds of household income among low-educated groups, compared with one-third in Canada. The average benefit amount received was similar in both countries, but the coverage of disabled people was much lower in Canada than in the UK, leading to a high poverty risk among disabled people out of work. Our findings highlight the importance of income support systems in preventing the widening of the poverty-disability gap at older ages.

scholarly journals Engaging the “Animal Question” in International Relations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Fougner
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Animal Question

Abstract By raising the “animal question” in International Relations (IR), this essay seeks to contribute not only to put animals and human–animal relations on the IR agenda, but also to move the field in a less anthropocentric and non-speciesist direction. More specifically, the essay does three things: First, it makes animals visible within some of the main empirical realms conventionally treated as the subject matter of IR. Second, it reflects on IR's neglect of animals and human–animal relations in relation to both how IR has been constituted as a field and the broader socio-cultural context in which it is embedded. Third, it explores various ways in which IR scholars can start incorporating and take animals and human–animal relations seriously in studies on international relations.

Who Publishes Where? Exploring the Geographic Diversity of Global IR Journals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathis Lohaus ◽  
Wiebke Wemheuer-Vogelaar
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
North America ◽  
International Relations ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Geographic Diversity ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
American Authors

Abstract To what extent is International Relations (IR) a globalized discipline? We investigate the geographic diversity of authorship in seventeen IR journals from Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the United Kingdom. Biographical records were collected for the authors of 2,362 articles published between 2011 and 2015. To interpret the data, we discuss how publishing patterns are driven by author incentives (supply) in tandem with editorial preferences and strategies (demand). Our main findings are twofold. First, global IR is fragmented and provincial. All journals frequently publish works by authors located in their own region—but the size of these local clusters varies. Geographic diversity is highest in what we identify as the “goldilocks zone” of international publishing: English-language journals that are globally visible but not so competitive that North American authors crowd out other contributions. Second, IR is being globalized through researcher mobility. Many scholars have moved to pursue their doctoral education and then publish as expats, returnees, or part of the diaspora. They are joined by academic tourists publishing in regions to which they have no obvious ties. IR journals thus feature more diverse backgrounds than it may seem at first sight, but many of these authors were educated in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

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