Pragmatism in IR: The Prospects for Substantive Theorizing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Frankel Pratt ◽  
Sebastian Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Pragmatist Philosophy

Abstract The contributors to this forum all draw significantly from pragmatist philosophy and social theory for making sense of international politics. Collectively, we affirm the value of pragmatist work beyond metatheory and methodology, both politically and epistemically—that is, as both a moral project and an explanatory one. Indeed, we are especially united on the notion that pragmatism “bridges” the divide between these things, and several contributors focus their discussion on how. However, we differ in what exactly it means to offer a distinctly pragmatist explanation or a “substantive” pragmatist theory, as well as in how pragmatism allows us to navigate the analytical and ethical challenges of the field. Over ten years ago, an earlier forum in this journal helped establish that pragmatism had something to offer; with over a decade of scholarship and reflection since, we revisit and expand on the question of how to deliver on it.

Understanding and Classifying Constructivisms

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
J. Samuel Barkin ◽  
Laura Sjoberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
The Social

The chapter discusses various ways that constructivism might be defined, and finds in them a tendency to make constructivisms into at once more than they are (by imbuing them with “naturally” associated politics) and less (by divorcing them from their roots as social theory). The chapter builds an argument that what constructivisms have in common is the ontological assumption of the social construction of international politics as expressed in methodology for doing International Relations research. This assumption should not be understood as taking specific ontologies, let alone methods, methodologies, or politics, as definitional of constructivism. Work can reasonably be described as constructivist if it builds on an ontology of co-constitution and intersubjectivity in the context of a particular set of methodological claims underlying a research exercise about global politics. This brackets what work might be called constructivist but does not associate constructivism either with any specific ontology or with any specific methodology.

Wendt's world

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVE SMITH
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Social Constructivist ◽  
Standard Account ◽  
Easy Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definitive Statement

Alexander Wendt's book, Social Theory of International Politics, is published twenty years after Kenneth Waltz's enormously influential Theory of International Politics. The similarity in their titles is no coincidence, since Wendt wants to build on the insights of Waltz's realism and construct an idealist and holist account of international politics (not, note, international relations). In my view, Wendt's book is likely to be as influential as Waltz's. It is a superbly written and sophisticated book, one that has clearly been drafted and redrafted so as to refine the argument and anticipate many of the likely objections. I think that although I can anticipate the objections of both his rationalist and his reflectivist critics. I am also aware that he makes life difficult for them by defining his ground very precisely, and by trying to define the terms of any debate in which he might be engaged. Criticism of the book is not an easy task. The book is likely to become the standard account for those working within the social constructivist literature of International Politics. It is a book that has been eagerly awaited, and it will not disappoint those who have been waiting for Wendt to publish his definitive statement on constructivism.

scholarly journals Contemporary Social Theory as a Tool to Understand the Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 107-115
Author(s):  
Jonathan Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Disabled Students ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Contemporary Social Theory

This is a conceptual article which seeks to consider the use of contemporary social theory to help understand the experience of disabled students in higher education. The use of social theoretical insights has been criticised by many as demonstrating a lack of engagement with the everyday experiences of disabled people. Work which strives to embed theoretical insights into the study of disability has also been criticised for lacking engagement with the ‘reality’ of impairment. In this article I intend to address some of these criticisms by suggesting some ways in which the use of contemporary social theory may provide an explanatory tool which disentangles confusion regarding the journey undertaken by the disabled student. I will discuss how the writings of several social theorists may be helpful in making sense of disabled student journeys. I will begin by discussing why the work of Jacques Derrida can be useful in this regard. These writings will be considered alongside a debate which draws on the writings of Michel Foucault on the use of power in contemporary higher education institutions. I will critically discuss the theoretical insights of Deleuze and Guattari and their offerings on the notion of ‘becoming’. I will then critically interrogate the work of Rosi Braidotti and apply these to a re-imagining of the disabled student journey. The writings of these important theorists have been used before to explore the experiences of disabled people. However, this article is unique in that it proposes that these writings can be used to demystify the experiences of disabled students in higher education. I suggest some ways the work of Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari and Braidotti enable a greater understanding of my personal student journey. I suggest that they could be used to make sense of a far wider range of student journeys. I conclude the article by offering a model which utilises some important aspects of these theoretical insights.

scholarly journals Cultures of anarchy: Images of Russia in the narrative of Norwegian mainstream news media during the Ukraine crisis 2014

2019 ◽  
pp. 175063521986402
Author(s):  
Nina M Bjørge ◽  
Øyvind Kalnes
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
News Media ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
The West ◽  
Strategic Narratives ◽  
Ukraine Crisis ◽  
Cross National

This article examines the role of the news media through a case study of the narratives about the 2014 Ukraine crisis in three major Norwegian newspapers. The conflict also contained a ‘war’ between competing strategic narratives from the involved actors, with a potential for cross-national cascades into the Norwegian narrative. The authors’ focus is on the framing of Russia during the most dramatic month of March 2014. They applied the images related to Wendt’s cultures of anarchy (see Social Theory of International Politics, 1999) to classify the framing of Russia. The Norwegian media narrative was relatively consistent in framing Russia as choosing a path leading away from being a rival of Norway and the West, towards becoming their enemy. This was close to the narrative of the Norwegian government and in clear opposition to the Russian narrative. While this supports Hoskins and O’Loughlin’s ‘arrested war’ hypothesis (published in Information, Communication & Society, 2015), it also raises questions about professional media norms.

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