scholarly journals Sustainable International Relations. Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato si’ and the Planetary Implications of the “Integral Ecology”

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquale Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Present World ◽  
Radical Transformation ◽  
Integral Ecology

This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications, for international relations and world politics, of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato si’, particularly through the notion “integral ecology”. Far for being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the “greening” of religions, the document raises in radical terms the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it puts emphasis on the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, I connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. Practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, operationalizing the concept of care.

scholarly journals Sustainable International Relations. Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Planetary Implications of “Integral Ecology”

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Integral Ecology

This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications for international relations and world politics of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato Si’, particularly through the notion of “integral ecology”. It is not my intention to offer an exegesis of the Papal document. I will rather try to illustrate and discuss its planetary hermeneutics. I emphasize that the Encyclical’s perspective is not exclusively normative, and that, within the dynamic interplay between social structure and human agency, it can also be considered as a call to action. In this context, I suggest that both International Relations Theory and global politics have much to learn from the fundamental claims of contemporary religions in relation to climate disruption. In particular, Pope Francis’ document, far from being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the “greening” of religions, raises the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. Therefore, I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it emphasizes the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, my objective is to connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to the paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the relevant questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. The Encyclical seems to suggest that practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, while simultaneously operationalizing the concept of care.

The past, present, and future of intervention

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1233-1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE LAWSON ◽  
LUCA TARDELLI
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

AbstractDespite the prominent place of intervention in contemporary world politics, debate is limited by two weaknesses: first, an excessive presentism; and second, a focus on normative questions to the detriment of analysis of the longer-term sociological dynamics that fuel interventionary pressures. In keeping with the focus of the Special Issue on the ways in which intervention is embedded within modernity, this article examines the emergence of intervention during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, assesses its place in the contemporary world, and considers its prospects in upcoming years. The main point of the article is simple – although intervention changes in character across time and place, it is a persistent feature of modern international relations. As such, intervention is here to stay.

Non-Alignment: Ideological Pluralism

1984 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-206
Author(s):  
Samaan Boutros Farajalla
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Second World ◽  
Present World ◽  
World Environment ◽  
Acute Crisis

There is no doubt that the world scene has undergone fundamental evolution in every respect during the past thirty-five years or so. The Non-Aligned Movement followed this evolution and became an important factor of international relations after the Second World War. The Non-Aligned states themselves feel very strongly about the importance of their role as they are convinced that their policies have to be taken into account, even by the Super Powers. Nevertheless in recent years, they have also become deeply conscious of the shortcomings of their policies due to their military and economic weakness and disunity in many instances. They have also realized the limitations of their influence. These shortcomings and limitations have generated a deep sense of frustration to a point that the Non-Aligned Movement is currently under stress, facing even an acute crisis of identity. Needless to point out, this crisis is related to the complex phenomenon of non-alignment itself which has always been beset by different currents and cross-currents depending on divergent national interests. It is therefore necessary to fully understand the concept of non-alignment in the context of the contemporary world environment in order to clarify its general objectives and their relevance to the present world situation, loaded as it is with a host of problems, which remain without adequate answers or solutions.

The State of the Japanese State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavan McCormack
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Japan ◽  
Client State ◽  
Constitutional Revision

In this his latest work, Gavan McCormack argues that Abe Shinzo’s efforts to re-engineer the Japanese state may fail, but his radicalism continues to shake the country and will have consequences not easy now to predict. The significance of this book will be widely recognized, particularly by those researching contemporary world politics, international relations and the history of modern Japan. McCormack here revisits and reassesses his previous formulations of Japan as construction state (doken kokka), client state (zokkoku), constitutional pacifist state, and colonial state (especially in its relationship to Okinawa). He adds a further chapter on what he calls the ‘rampant state’, that outlines the increasingly authoritarian or ikkyo (one strong) turn of the Abe government in the fifth year of its second term. And he critically addresses the Abe agenda for constitutional revision.

The Anarchical Society at 40

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
International Society ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Society Perspective ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact

Hedley Bull’s The Anarchical Society was published in 1977. Though considered as one of the classics in International Relations, it does not address many world political issues that concern us deeply today—volatile great power relations after the end of the Cold War, the rise of terrorism, financial crises, climate change, the impact of the Internet, deep-rooted racial inequalities, violence against women. Moreover, through the evolution of International Relations as an academic pursuit, various limitations of the type of approach followed by Bull are coming to light. Against this background, eighteen contributors to this collection, with diverse intellectual orientations and academic specializations, have revisited Bull’s book forty years on to assess its limitations and resilience. A number of contributors point to certain fundamental problems stemming from Bull’s a historical conceptual theorizing. However, several others find arguments and insights developed or hidden in his text which are still relevant, in some cases, highly so, to understanding contemporary world politics while others explore ways of augmenting Bull’s intellectual repertoire. An intricate tapestry of ideas emerges from the criss-crossing contributions to the volume and, through this, it becomes clear that there is more to The Anarchical Society than the ‘international society’ perspective with which it is conventionally associated. The contemporary relevance of Bull’s work is clearest when we recognize the flexibility of his conceptual framework and, in particular, the often overlooked potential of his concept of the ‘world political system’ of which, Bull acknowledges, modern international society is only a part.

Things lost and found: Richard Ashley and the silences of thinking space

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (04) ◽  
pp. 989-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK LAFFEY
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Lost And Found ◽  
Interpretive Practices

AbstractRichard Ashley's writings in the 1980s are central to the production of post-structuralist or ‘dissident’ scholarship in International Relations (IR). In this article, I use analysis of the standard dissident view of Ashley's writings to examine the interpretive practices through which the community of dissident scholars was produced textually. Dissident ‘thinking space’ in the discipline was produced in part through the exclusion of Marx, capital and class, despite these being present in Ashley's writings throughout this period. Similar interpretive practices were applied to the writings of Michel Foucault, with similar effects. This exclusion has negative consequences for dissident scholarship, in particular analysis of historicity and the place of capitalism in contemporary world politics. Overcoming these problems requires reading the work of Ashley and other founders of dissident scholarship in a different way are attentive to the silences of thinking space.

The global transformation: more than meets the eye

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Musgrave ◽  
Daniel Nexon
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Explicit Theory ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Explicit Study

Buzan and Lawson’s The Global Transformation establishes that many of the basic parameters of world politics originated in the ‘long 19th century’. Despite finding much to admire in their book, we are concerned that it lacks an explicit theory of change. In its drive to highlight the novelty and exceptionalism of the 19th century, it offers insufficient guidance on two key issues: first, how international relations scholars should situate Buzan and Lawson’s ‘global transformation’ in existing debates over transhistorical processes; and, second, how they should apply lessons from that transformation to understanding emergent trends in the contemporary world. We argue that a more explicit study of causal factors might help account for why the 19th century was unusual. We conclude with thoughts about how the field should proceed after The Global Transformation. In particular, it points to how concatenating changes could profoundly alter international politics – an approach we term ‘Exotic International Relations’. Buzan and Lawson’s book therefore serves as a marker for the importance of systematically theorizing how radical potentialities for transformation might rearrange existing structural assemblages in world politics.

The “National Interest” and Contemporary World Politics

1978 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Martin Rochester
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
National Interest ◽  
World Politics ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Precise Analysis ◽  
The Government

The “national interest” has proven to be a highly resilient concept, not only in terms of its malleability in the hands of foreign policymakers and various publics but also in terms of its ability to retain currency among several generations of international relations scholars despite repeated efforts to discredit it. There have been several attempts recently to rehabilitate the concept, including one by the Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy which recognized that repudiation of the term by academics did not absolve practitioners from their continuing responsibility to define it. However, the problem with recent attempts on the part of scholars as well as practitioners to reformulate the “national interest” is that they fail to take into account adequately the new realities of world politics which have tended to upset the normal calculus. If the identification of “national interests” has defied precise analysis in the past, it is an even more difficult task today.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document