Questioning the quest for Pluralism: How Decolonial is Non-Western IR?

2022 ◽  
pp. 030437542110645
Author(s):  
Erick Viramontes
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Collective ◽  
Intellectual Movement

Since early 2000s, scholars of international relations have been questioning the Western-centrism of their home discipline and, in a quest for pluralism, have been envisioning ways of conceptualizing the world beyond the West. At the same time, an intellectual movement known as modernity/coloniality research collective has been critically reflecting about modernity and its often-neglected counterpart, coloniality, to resist universalism and to decolonize knowledge. Engaging with the attempts to procure pluralism in the discourse of international relations, the purpose of this article is to question the different perspectives of non-Western international relations from a decolonial angle to identify intellectual projects that could lead to decolonizing the discipline. In its discussion of how decolonial non-Western IR theory is, the article argues that while some perspectives within the subfield openly reject or simply ignore the concerns raised by decolonial thought, others put forward intellectual projects where decolonial arguments resonate. Hence, rather than characterizing the subfield in general terms, the article distinguishes those perspectives that are attentive to the need of generating a true dialog among knowledges and, by so doing, it contributes to critical scholarship within international relations.

Islamic International Relations Towards a Theoretical Framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gubara Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The World

The Western originators of the multi-disciplinary social sciences and their successors, including most major Western social intellectuals, excluded religion as an explanation for the world and its affairs. They held that religion had no role to play in modern society or in rational elucidations for the way world politics or/and relations work. Expectedly, they also focused most of their studies on the West, where religion’s effect was least apparent and argued that its influence in the non-West was a primitive residue that would vanish with its modernization, the Muslim world in particular. Paradoxically, modernity has caused a resurgence or a revival of religion, including Islam. As an alternative approach to this Western-centric stance and while focusing on Islam, the paper argues that religion is not a thing of the past and that Islam has its visions of international relations between Muslim and non-Muslim states or abodes: peace, war, truce or treaty, and preaching (da’wah).

scholarly journals The CSTO in new system of coordinates of the global international security. New calls and threats to security for the states of the CSTO and a form of response to them.

2016 ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
A. A. Orlov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
International Security ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
New System

Specifics of present moment of historical development is cardinal change of a geopolitical picture of the world. The period of partnership between Russia and the West came to an end. Partnership is succeeded by new structure of the international relations which will be constructed on much more pragmatic basis. At the same time it is obvious that the unipolar world was absolutely not effective. This world finally disbalanced all system of the international relations that was expressed in the number of the regional and local conflicts unprecedented before, and in return in the last two years of direct confrontation between Russia and the West.

scholarly journals Human Rights in Hong Kong – International Context

Politeja ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2(71)) ◽  
pp. 149-170
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Gruszko
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Order ◽  
The West ◽  
International Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Litmus Test

Human rights in international relations are defined by the boundaries between individual states and regions, as well as the most important theories of international relations. The assumption of their universal character often finds no reflection in the foreign policy of states, especially the strongest ones. The most important players and theories do not question the existence of human rights as such, however, their role and place in international relations are interpreted differently. Human rights in Hong Kong, the meeting place of the West and Confucianism in the context of globalization, may become the litmus test of the intentions of the world powers and their vision of a World Order in regard to human rights.

scholarly journals The United Nations is grounded on the Westphalian state system. Throughout the de-colonizationperiod, the Organization ceased to be peculiar to the West only, and soon became the prevalent model in theentire globe. The Cold War also solidified and institutionalized the Westphalian State as the fundamentalprinciple in international relations. The end of the Cold War, however, along with the collapse of theEastern bloc, the challenges of peace and security in Africa, and the failure of the states in coping withhumanitarian crises increasingly made the three fundamental principles of Westphalian state, namely the“non-interventionism”, “sovereign-equality” and “territoriality” disputable among political scientists. Newapproaches and arguments on the end of the Classical Westphalian state and the emergence of a so-called“New Medieval Age” have widely been circulated. This paper alternatively suggests that, since the end of thecold war, the world politics has gradually and decisively been evolving into a system of states that could becalled Neo-Westphalian.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-266
Author(s):  
Öner Buçukcu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
State System ◽  
The West ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The Cold War

The United Nations is grounded on the Westphalian state system. Throughout the de-colonizationperiod, the Organization ceased to be peculiar to the West only, and soon became the prevalent model in theentire globe. The Cold War also solidified and institutionalized the Westphalian State as the fundamentalprinciple in international relations. The end of the Cold War, however, along with the collapse of theEastern bloc, the challenges of peace and security in Africa, and the failure of the states in coping withhumanitarian crises increasingly made the three fundamental principles of Westphalian state, namely the“non-interventionism”, “sovereign-equality” and “territoriality” disputable among political scientists. Newapproaches and arguments on the end of the Classical Westphalian state and the emergence of a so-called“New Medieval Age” have widely been circulated. This paper alternatively suggests that, since the end of thecold war, the world politics has gradually and decisively been evolving into a system of states that could becalled Neo-Westphalian.

scholarly journals Accounting for Change in IR

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Esther Ng K.H.
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
The West

Most theories of International Relations (IR) are cautious, if not pessimistic, about the potential for change in IR. In this regard, the concept of ontological security holds promising yet oft-overlooked prospects. This article argues that applications of ontological security to IR theory thus far have been limited due to the narrow conceptualisations of practices and how they contribute to one’s attempts to preserve their ontological security. As such, this paper seeks to expand the theoretical framework through which ontological security is applied to IR, which involves a more comprehensive conceptualisation of practice that considers reflexivity as key. Accordingly, the theory demonstrates that a state, faced with threats to their sense of Self, can respond either by rigidising or changing their practices rather than being limited to the former. This allows one to account for change—especially big change—in world politics such as the increasingly inward-looking turn of the West.

International Theory Book Symposium on Peter J. Katzenstein and Lucia A. Seybert, eds, Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-409
Author(s):  
Jacques E. C. Hymans
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Control Power ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
International Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Book Symposium

AbstractKatzenstein and Seybert's Protean Power offers a fresh perspective on the concept of power in international relations (IR) theory. Standard IR theory defines power as control power, which exists in the world of calculable risk. But IR must also grapple with protean power, which exists in the world of incalculable uncertainty. In this symposium, scholars representing a variety of theoretical perspectives evaluate the concept of protean power as it stands now and as it should develop in the future.

Post-Bipolar World: Peaceful Coexistence or Chaos?

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
A. Lukin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Research University ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The West ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S

The article explores characteristics of the international relations bipolar system, changes occurred after its collapse and the future of post-bipolar world, focusing on the role of non-Western actors in it. On one hand, the bipolar system provided stability of international relations, but on the other – lead to competition between the U.S. and the USSR for the influence on the third countries, which sometimes resulted in armed conflicts in the third states. The collapse of the Soviet Union convinced the West both in the universality of its development model and the necessity to spread it all over the world. Now it is clear that the “democratism” ideology failed politically and culturally. The Western model has neither become a panacea for eliminating disparities between countries on different stages of development, nor the only example of successful and strong governance. New power centers, such as Russia, China, India and Brazil, have been successfully developing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their influence has been growing along with that of the West, and even though they did not necessarily directly confront it, they never shared all its values, yet never actively imposed their positions on the rest of the world. Regional powers (Nigeria, Venezuela, etc.) are also playing a more significant role in the emerging system, although sometimes they may join the alliances with more powerful countries to achieve their goals (as Vietnam does with the U.S. in its conflict with China). Russia’s reluctance to follow the West in its development created the first serious alternative to the existing unipolar world model and its values, so naturally and widely accepted by the Western actors. Whereas China with its rapid economic development is also posing a challenge to the ideology of "democratism" proving that the economic welfare is achievable outside the Western political model. As for Russia, its role in the modern world is still not defined. The Russian Federation wants to become an independent power unit and a center of the Eurasian integration. However, it is not clear whether it has resources of all kinds to implement this idea, – moreover, its economic dependence on the West is still too strong to insist on further confrontation. Instead, Russia (as well as its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union) could use Eurasian integration platforms to act as an "ambassador" of Asia in Europe and that of Europe in Asia. Acknowledgements. The article has been supported by the grant of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University Higher School of Economics in 2016.

scholarly journals Transnational theories of order and change: heterodoxy in International Relations scholarship

2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
RONEN PALAN
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Empirical Theory ◽  
International Diffusion ◽  
Communication Device ◽  
French School ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And War

ABSTRACTIn this article I argue that the very meaning of ‘inter-national relations’ is emerging as a focus of debate in International Relations, particularly among the critical traditions in the discipline. No longer seen as a mere study of peace and war, IR is viewed as a component of general pan-disciplinary theories or order and change. The international sphere is perceived, accordingly, no longer as a system in its own right, but rather as a gigantic transmission belt, and a huge communication device transmitting and diffusing ideas, practices, rules, norms and institutions throughout the world. The article examines the implications of such an approach on IR theory. In addition, the article revisits the works of Hegel, Marx and the French School of Regulation to demonstrate how they developed an empirical theory of international diffusion.

scholarly journals Religion and International Relations: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haynes
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Clash Of Civilisations ◽  
First Time ◽  
Second Period

The article surveys the recent scholarly study of religion and international relations/International Relations (ir/IR). The focus of the article is on two discrete periods: pre-9 September 2001 (‘9/11’) and post-9/11. During the first time period, Iran’s Islamic revolution (1979), the civil war in former Yugoslavia and Huntington’s ‘clash of civilisations’ (1993) were major foci of attention. The second period saw a large number of scholarly accounts following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, with a sustained focus on the international securitisation of Islam. The article also briefly surveys the position of religion in IR theory. The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at a better understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations.

scholarly journals Governmentality at the limits of the international: African politics and Foucauldian theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 763-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARL DEATH
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
World Politics ◽  
African Politics ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The World ◽  
Analytics Of Government ◽  
Foucauldian Theory

AbstractThe ability of International Relations theory to ‘travel well’ to other parts of the world has become one of the central questions within the discipline. This article argues that a Foucauldian-derived ‘analytics of government’ framework has particular advantages in overcoming some of the difficulties IR theory has faced abroad. These advantages include a methodological focus on specific practices of power at their point of application; attention to similarities between practices of power that cut across perceived binaries such as the domestic and international, and public and private; and an illumination of the ways in which practices of freedom are combined and interrelate with forms of coercion and violence. This argument is illustrated in the context of debates about the applicability of Foucauldian theory to African politics, through examples drawn from Bayart's work on globalisation, the power of development partnerships, and violence and civil war. It argues that deploying governmentality as an analytical framework, rather than seeing it as a specifically neoliberal form of power relation, can not only facilitate the application of IR theory outside Europe and North America but can also help develop a broader perspective on genuinely world politics.

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