Emotions and International Political Theory

2018 ◽  
pp. 599-611
Author(s):  
Renée Jeffery
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
New Developments ◽  
The Core ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines the contribution made by the “emotional turn,” one of the most exciting and revolutionary developments in contemporary scholarship, to the key concerns of contemporary International Political Theory (IPT). It details the particularly close relationship that has been forged between empirical research on the emotions and IPT, and examines the role that discoveries in the neurosciences and psychology may play in substantiating existing emotional theories of international relations and shaping new developments in international political thought. The chapter also considers the broader implications of emotions research for IPT, focusing in particular on the impact that key findings about the nature of reason and its relationship to the emotions may have on the core assumptions that underpin many dominant theoretical accounts of international relations.

Humanitarian Actors and International Political Theory

2018 ◽  
pp. 315-329
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Welsh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
The Core ◽  
Specific Subset ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Human

This chapter examines how contemporary humanitarian institutions interpret and implement their normative responsibilities in international society. It analyses a specific subset of actors—the United Nations and humanitarian NGOs—and the impact of their attempts to privilege a more “individualist,” or cosmopolitan, approach to the mitigation and regulation of armed conflict. The chapter sets out the core values of humanitarian action, including humanity and impartiality, and then illustrates how the process of “individualization”—which challenges the primacy of collective entities such as warring parties or sovereign states —has created both normative and operational dilemmas for humanitarian actors. In the case of the UN, the imperative to protect individual human rights has transformed the practice of peacekeeping, through a robust interpretation of impartiality, while for humanitarian NGOs it has spawned efforts to address not only the immediate suffering produced by armed conflict but also the underlying causes of vulnerability.

scholarly journals Political Thought, International Relations theory and International Political Theory: an interpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Brown
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Past History ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Thought

The relationship between political theory, including the history of political thought, and International Relations theory, including the history of international thought, has been, and to some extent remains, complex and troubled. On both sides of the Atlantic, the mid-twentieth century founders of International Relations as an academic discipline drew extensively on the canon of political thought, but approached the subject in an uncritical way, while political philosophers largely disdained the international as a focus. This changed in the 1970s and 1980s, with the emergence of the ‘justice industry’ based on critiques of Rawls’ A Theory of Justice and a consequent recovering of the past history of cosmopolitan and communitarian thought. A new discourse emerged in this period – International Political Theory – bridging the gap between political thought and international relations and stimulating a far more creative and scholarly approach to the history of international thought. However, in a social science environment dominated by the methods of economics, that is, formal theory and quantification, the new discourse of International Political Theory occupies a niche rather than existing at the centre of the discipline.

scholarly journals Cosmopolitanism – an alternative for Global Governance?

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 177-191
Author(s):  
Stefan Wallaschek
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Norms ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Different Levels

In the last decades Global Governance was one of the most used and contested terms in International Relations. Many researchers have shown that the concept is overstretched and they call for alternatives. Can Cosmopolitanism as a “new” international political theory be an alternative? I will propose a new theoretical model which can be used to analyze cosmopolitanism empirically. Drawing on both normative and empirical research on cosmopolitanism I demonstrate the necessary combination of both. I formulate a two-axes-model which is based on norms and conflicts. Such a theoretically based and empirically applicable model can be used to analyze different (claims of) actors in relation to a (cosmopolitan) position. In addition the model gives researchers the opportunity to scrutinize the relevance of international norms on different levels and thus offers a possible visualization of the interconnection between global arrangements and local activities. Therefore the model presents an alternative to Global Governance.

Minority Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kymlicka
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
International Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Level ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Rights Issues

It has often been noted that the political claims of minorities and indigenous peoples are marginalized within traditional state-centric international political theory; but perhaps more surprisingly, they are also marginalized within much contemporary cosmopolitan political theory. In this chapter, I will argue that neither cosmopolitanism nor statism as currently theorized is well equipped to evaluate the normative claims at stake in many minority rights issues. I begin by discussing how the “minority question” arose as an issue within international relations—that is, why minorities have been seen as a problem and a threat to international order—and how international actors have historically attempted to contain the problem, often in ways that were deeply unjust to minorities. I will then consider recent efforts to advance a pro-minority agenda at the international level, and how this agenda helps reveal some of the limits of both cosmopolitan and statist approaches to IPT.

scholarly journals Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Koschut
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Security Community ◽  
Intellectual Heritage ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Regional Order ◽  
Community Concept

The security community concept generally inhabits a rather small niche in the study of International Relations, as the logic of community fundamentally challenges the prevailing logic of anarchy. In this article, it is argued both on ontological and theoretical grounds that the concept’s intellectual heritage and depth transcends the boundaries of existing theories. In this sense, the concept of security community serves as a via media by linking different strands of International Relations theory together and by bridging various theoretical gaps. This argument will be developed in two steps. Firstly, it will be shown that the security community framework developed by Karl W Deutsch is deeply rooted in International Political Theory without belonging to one particular branch. By locating the concept in International Political Theory, an exercise that has been neglected by the security community literature; it will be secondly demonstrated that the concept of security community takes the middle ground between specific strands of International Relations theory, as these strands are ultimately based on concepts of moral philosophy.

The Impact of the German Question on Polish Attitudes toward CSCE, 1964–1975

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-157
Author(s):  
Wanda Jarząbek
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
German Question ◽  
The Impact ◽  
East West

In Polish political thought and foreign policy during the four-plus decades of Communist rule in Poland, the German question played a central role. Many aspects of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) were connected with the German question, but it would be a simplification to construe the Polish regime's interest in the conference only in the context of the German problem. Polish leaders saw CSCE also as a chance for introducing changes in East-West relations and for extending Poland's leeway for maneuver in international relations. This article shows how Polish Communist leaders thought about these issues and traces the diplomatic activity aimed at promoting the Polish point of view and securing the country's (and regime’s) priorities.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Broadcasting Media Using Social Media Engagement in the WNBA

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Pegoraro ◽  
Heather Kennedy ◽  
Nola Agha ◽  
Nicholas Brown ◽  
David Berri
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
Sport Consumption ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Social Media Engagement ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

While there has been research into what teams, leagues, and athletes post on social media and the impact of post content on social media engagement, there is limited understanding and empirical research on the impact of broadcasting media on social sport consumption. There are an increasing number of new media through which sport leagues can distribute their content to fans. This research examines the impact of different broadcast platforms on game day engagement with WNBA team Twitter accounts. Using data for the 2016–2018 seasons, results indicate athlete/team quality and performance were positively associated with post engagement, underscoring the importance of the core sport product and potentially indicating that the WNBA is developing a star-driven culture similar to the NBA. In addition, broadcasting on League Pass or local TV (for home teams) and Twitter were associated with lower post engagement suggesting we have more to learn about maximizing online engagement.

scholarly journals Buddhist Modernism Underway in Bhutan: Gross National Happiness and Buddhist Political Theory

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Jessica Locke
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
Gross National Happiness ◽  
Political Literature ◽  
The Core ◽  
Buddhist Modernism ◽  
The Face ◽  
National Happiness ◽  
Constitutional Monarchy

This article synthesizes and clarifies the significance of the last half-century’s developments in Bhutan’s politics within the frame of Buddhist political thought. During this time, Bhutan has held a curious position in the international community, both celebrated as a Buddhist Shangri-La defending its culture in the face of globalized modernity, and at times, criticized for defending its heritage too conservatively at the expense of ethnic minorities’ human rights. In other words, Bhutan is praised for being anti-modern and illiberal and denounced for being anti-modern and illiberal. As an alternative to understanding Bhutan vis-à-vis this unhelpful schema, and in order to better grasp what exactly is underway in Bhutan’s political developments, I read Bhutan’s politics from within the tradition of Buddhist political literature. I argue that the theory of governance driving Bhutan’s politics is an example of Buddhist modernism—both ancient and modern, deeply Buddhist and yet manifestly inflected by western liberalism. To elucidate Bhutan’s contiguity with (and occasional departures from) the tradition of Buddhist political thought, I read two politically-themed Buddhist texts, Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland and Mipham’s Treatise on Ethics for Kings, drawing out their most relevant points on Buddhist governance. I then use these themes as a lens for analyzing three significant political developments in Bhutan: its recent transition to constitutional monarchy, its signature policy of Gross National Happiness, and its fraught ethnic politics. Reading Bhutan’s politics in this manner reveals the extent to which Buddhist political thought is underway in this moment. Bhutan’s Buddhist-modernist theory of governance is a hybrid political tradition that evinces a lasting commitment to the core values of Buddhist political thought while at the same time being responsive to modern geopolitical and intellectual influences.

Just War Theory in Times of Individual Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 220-232
Author(s):  
Janina Dill
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Just War ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Radical Revision

Just war theory (JWT) has undergone a radical revision over the last two decades. This chapter discusses the implications of this reformulation for the role of JWT in International Political Theory (IPT) and for JWT’s strategic usefulness. Revisionists’ consistent prioritization of individual rights means JWT now follows the strictures of justified violence according to contemporary IPT. At the same time, the collective nature of war makes it impossible for anyone but the omniscient attacker to properly protect individual rights and thus to directly implement revisionist prescriptions. I argue that revisionism is strategically relevant not in spite of, but because of this lack of practicability on the battlefield. It highlights the impossibility of waging war in accordance with widespread expectations of moral appropriateness, which largely follow the strictures of justified violence according to contemporary IPT. This is a crucial limitation to the political utility of force in twenty-first-century international relations.

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