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1. The Postcolonial Vortex

Author:
Photis Lysandrou and Yvonne Lysandrou
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), University of London
Abstract:
The subject of this paper is the contemporary postcolonial condition. Its central argument is that this condition is one of perpetual entrapment in circular motion as any progression registered by postcolonial countries by participating in the global capitalist system as independent states is continually offset by a backward-pulling regression arising out of their subordinate position in that system. This entrapment in 'proregression', to abbreviate the progression-regression nexus, is not in itself a new experience for postcolonial countries. What is new is the primary mechanism that perpetuates proregression: where in the previous eras of colonialism and neo-colonialism that primary mechanism rested on the force of authority, in the current postcolonial era it rests on the force of gravity. It is testimony to the strength of this force that even those emerging capitalist countries that have never been the subject of external control in the colonial era are now also caught in the predicament of proregression. However, the fact that the postcolonial countries have previous experience of proregression makes their present experience going forward even more acute. It is as if their history is caught in an endless series of overlapping cycles, as each mode of progression on a higher plane of development is countered by a mode of regression on an equivalent plane of development. In short, it is as if their whole history is caught in a vortex.
Topic:
Post Colonialism, Political Theory, and Capitalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. ntroduction to the Special Issue Anxiety and Change in International Relations

Author:
Bahar Rumelili
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Despite being the prevailing emotion of our times, anxiety has received scant attention in the inter- national relations discipline. While political theorists and philosophers have long paid attention to anxiety as distinct from and constitutive of fear, international relations theory has assumed that much of international behavior is guided by fears of specific threats to state survival.1 However, today, the uncertainties surrounding the future of the world order, unanticipated crises like the COVID-19 pan- demic that radically change our lives, unforeseeable terrorist attacks, and the unexplainable lure of radical fundamentalist ideologies all evoke a pervasive anxiety about what we do not know and what we cannot control, rather than the fear of a specific and known enemy. This special issue joins a growing set of recent publications employing a theoretically informed notion of anxiety and highlighting its distinct effects on international politics.2 This emerging research program shares a number of common premises. The first is the conceptual distinction between fear and anxiety. The second is an interest in how international actors manage anxiety and how various anxiety management techniques and practices affect international outcomes. Thirdly, anxiety research in IR is interested in exploring the distinct potential in anxiety to be a force for emancipatory and /or radical change. Fourthly, anxiety scholarship in IR is interested in theorizing how anxiety is manifest not solely as an individual-level but also as a social and collective phenomenon. Finally, scholars are building on the neglected insights of existentialist and psycho-analytical thought, where anxiety fig- ures prominently and underscoring their relevance for IR.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, and Fear
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Anxiety, Ambivalence and Sublimation: ontological in/security and the world risk society

Author:
John Cash
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
This article aims to expand the social-theoretical and psychoanalytic range of research on ontological in/ security, by exploring parallel concerns addressed by Beck, Kristeva, Butler and Zizek. These include, first, the psychic roots of othering processes and their encoding into cultural repertoires. Second, the difficulties and possibilities of displacing othering processes within national and international politics. Third, the disruptive effects of globalising processes on the symbolic efficiency of cultures and on their encoded defences against ontological insecurity. Fourth, the crucial significance for political and international relations of the qualitative characteristics of those defences against ontological insecurity that gain predominance within cultural repertoires and their variable norms of recognition. Likewise, the significance of those norms of recognition that challenge established norms and successfully reorganise cultural repertoires.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Bringing the Critical Thinking Back in: A Critique of Andrew Linklater’s Theoretical Contributions to International Relations

Author:
Fabiana Sander and Matheus Souza
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Inspired by the Critical Social Theory put forth by the Frankfurt School, Andrew Linklater has dedicated part of his career to elaborating a critical and emancipatory research agenda for International Relations. However, his recent research on the restriction of violence in international society, mostly influenced by the English School and by Eliasian Sociology, has pushed Linklater away from an explicit engagement with critical epistemologies and theoretical approaches. Although there is a possibility for close dialogue between these theoretical strands, we claim that Linklater did not articulate these approaches as much as he could have done. Therefore, we make an assessment of his work to discuss some of its epistemological and theoretical inconsistencies. Based on this, we provide a way to bridge Linklater’s initial critical agenda with his most recent analyses on processes of violence restriction and regulation of global harm in the international realm. We argue that by focusing on multiple global processes that contributed to the restriction of violence, Linklater failed to consider the particularities, pitfalls and side-effects of allegedly beneficial processes of violence restriction and, as a result, his work lost critical potential. Accordingly, this article demonstrates how Linklater would benefit from going back to his initial critical agenda to address the limitations of his scholarship on global harm.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Political Theory, Citizenship, and Violence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Is Terrorism a Unique Form of Violence? An Assessment of the Academic Critique

Author:
Dayyab Gillani
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
The longstanding question over whether or not terrorism is a unique form of violence that demands its own unique set of responses is one of the most outstanding theoretical and conceptual problems in the terrorism discourse. The contentious debate has generated and actively sustained a number of competing theories and convictions. Amidst all this, the already convoluted concept of terrorism has become all the more peculiar. The attempts to undermine the uniqueness of terrorism, in particular, pose a serious challenge to the chances of terrorism ever becoming an independent field of academic research. Given the fallout, it becomes necessary to especially reassess the critique that strips terrorism of its uniqueness and distinctiveness.
Topic:
Terrorism, Political Theory, and Violence
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia

6. Thinking through the Event: Alain Badiou versus Michael Hardt & Antonio Negr

Author:
Semra Akay
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This article offers how the concept of the event is approached by two opposing post-Marxist thinkers - Alain Badiou, Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri. Since the beginning of the modern era, many events, which could be significant or not, have occurred, such as the French Revolution, the Paris Commune, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Zapatista movements, the Arab Spring, anti-globalisation movements, indigenous movements, agricultural movements and the contemporary global protests that have emerged in many parts of the world over the past few decades. They all have affected world politics in some ways. Hence, there are many ways to think about these events or conceptualise these events in distinctive ways. This article compares the approaches of Badiou, who has still been known for his commitment to Maoism, and Hardt & Negri, who established a postmodern relationship between biopolitics, capitalism and empire. The paper emphasises that although both Badiou and Hard & Negri believe that events bring up new possibilities, the event rarely occurs throughout history for the former. For the latter, global capitalism gives rise to the events. The paper stands with Hardt and Negri’s formulation as their perceptions enable us to perceive the novelties, potentialities, and creativeness of social uprisings that have become prevalent in the contemporary world.
Topic:
Political Theory, Social Movement, Intellectual History, and Philosophy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Decolonize! What does it mean?

Author:
Sara Duvisac
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This document introduces the key concepts of decolonial theory that inform many current calls to decolonize. It provides examples from Latin America, Africa, and North America of how activists have envisioned or realized decolonial futures. These movements led by Indigenous Peoples, people of color, women, and queer people articulate and define the possibilities of decolonial futures. Since decolonial theory suggests multiple futures and not one single solution, this document does not address what decolonizing particular systems, such as international development, should look like. Rather, the document aims to introduce the reader to the tools of analysis that decolonial theory offers, give examples of decolonial theory in practice, and discuss some potential shortfalls of the decolonial framework.
Topic:
Political Theory, Colonialism, Decolonization, and Diversity
Political Geography:
Africa, Latin America, and North America

8. A quarter century of ‘The Proper Scope of Government’: Theory and Applications

Author:
Oliver Hart
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
A quarter-century ago in a seminal paper, Hart, Shleifer, and Vishny (NBER1996, QJE1997) developed a theory of the ‘Proper Scope of Government.’ Oliver Hart, 2016 Nobel Laureate, reflects on that framework and its place in economics, as well as the inspiration for his more recent work on norms, guiding principles, and contracts as reference points. In discussion with Karen Eggleston, Hart answers questions posed by economists who have built upon Hart, Shleifer and Vishny (1997) and offers insights on how the theory applies to understanding public and private roles in healthcare, education, and other publicly-financed services.
Topic:
Education, Privatization, Political Theory, Governance, Health Care Policy, Social Services, and Public Service
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Public Security and Public Order – Conceptual and Institutional Scope

Author:
Janusz Gierszewski and Andrzej Pieczywok
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The publication aims to analyze public security and public order in conceptual and institutional terms as an analytical category of security sciences. The legislator defines neither public security nor public order. So far, they have been treated mainly as categories of administrative law. It is therefore important to assign them analytical content in the new scientific discipline. The research results allowed for the presentation of the thesis that public security and public order are mainly connected with protection against pathological phenomena occurring in the public space, which are minimized by institutions established to ensure it. These categories should constitute the research field (subject) of the security sciences. The research problem formulated in the form of the question: How are public security and public order treated in definitional and institutional terms? The problem was solved based on a critical analysis of the literature. The paper uses theoretical research methods, including analysis of literature and phenomena occurring in society and inference – as a cognitive factor of the subject of analysis. A critical analysis of the literature on this issue played a large role in the cognitive process.
Topic:
Security, Political Theory, Public Policy, and Social Order
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Systemic Analysis of Politics in the Light of Reconstruction of Structural Functionalism of Jeffrey C. Alexander

Author:
Jaroslaw Nocon
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Applying systems analysis in political science research is still one of the important dimensions of political science methodology. Reconstruction of the functional model of the social system seems to be an attractive proposition for policy researchers. Signed by the name of Jeffrey Charles Alexander, the American version of neofunctionalism is one of the responses to the crisis of traditional forms of structural functionalism. The main purpose of the reconstruction of T. Parsons’s theory was its revitalization consisting in restoring the possibility of its application in contemporary social research. The reinterpretation of the classical approach was to a large extent “forced” by harsh criticism of the current approach and focused especially on attempts to overcome the limitations contained therein, which manifested in the impossibility of correlation of functional theorems with newly developing research currents Jeffrey Alexander restored relevance and emphasizes suitability for interpreting and explaining political processes and phenomena. Understanding the concept of functions and functional relations in the political environment allows for effective application in the analysis of contemporary political systems. Therefore, changing the method of functional analysis is a useful methodological tool in developing a political theory.
Topic:
Politics, Political Theory, Institutionalism, and Structuralism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

11. The institutionalized Buen Vivir: a new hegemonic political paradigm for Ecuador

Author:
Patricio Carpio Benalcazar, Francisco Javier Ullan de La Rosa, and Francisco Javier Ullan de La Rosa
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
Buen Vivir has recently emerged in Latin America as an alternative societal model to the historical liberal (or neoliberal) and Marxist ones. The article focuses on its Ecuadorian variant and, more specifically, the institutionalized version embodied in the 2008 Constitution and the policies of the Citizens’ Revolution governments. This version is the particular result of the convergence of three different currents and has become the hegemonic ideology in the country. The article describes its main thematic axes and appraises its originality, as well as the theoretical and practical contributions.
Topic:
Political Theory, Governance, Hegemony, and Ideology
Political Geography:
South America and Ecuador

12. Mobilizing Resources and Signaling Intentions: a Neoclassical Realist Analysis of Japan’s Domestic and International Instrumentalization of the Senkaku Islands Dispute and China’s Maritime Assertiveness

Author:
Alana Camoca Gonclaves de Oliveira
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
Using a neoclassical realist model, this paper builds an analytical model to understand how countries are able to change or adjust their security and foreign policies. The article analyzes Japan’s foreign and security policies under the Shinzo Abe government, exploring how the Japanese government’s internal and international propaganda on Chinese maritime assertiveness and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands issue influenced the government’s capacity to mobilize resources in order to transform security policies and legitimize Japan’s military role in the Asia Pacific.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, Military Strategy, and Propaganda
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, and Asia-Pacific

13. Security Studies in International Relations: Evolution, Approaches and Contemporary Challenges

Author:
Ali Muhammad and Sugeng Riyanto
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
This article examines the growth and evolution of security studies since its emergence to the end the Cold War. Security studies as a subfield in international relations was dominated by realist approach during the Cold War. However, by the of the cold war, the concept of security was debated between the widener–deepener. Not only about the concept, but variety of theoretical approaches also emerged to challenge the traditional realist/liberal approach, such as, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, human security and postcolonialism. There were crucial differences in how these competing approaches constituted referent objects, the sectors to which security is applicable, and epistemological position as well.
Topic:
Security, Political Theory, Intellectual History, and Post Cold War
Political Geography:
Global Focus

14. Erratic Behaviour of the United Nations and Global Governance in. Africa: The State as a Smokescreen for World Security

Author:
Agbo Uchechukwu Johnson, Nsemba Edward Lenshie, and Ndukwe Onyinyechi Kelechi
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
State’s choice for human beings emerged when they realized that wild freedom in the “state of nature” where power is right, failed to achieve life and property independence and protection. Human beings were forced to capitulate for the common good to the abstract government. In what Hobbes (1588-1678) called the “social contract”, the state acknowledged this obligation to be governed by a leader of an all-powerful society. In his Second Treatise of Government (1689), John Locke (1632-1704) also agreed with Hobbes’ notion of a social contract, based on the premise that human beings are born free. Individuals enjoy a natural right to life, freedom and the freedom to own or possess estates.
Topic:
Government, Political Theory, Philosophy, State, and Nation-State
Political Geography:
Africa, Brazil, and Global Focus

15. In the Shadow of Justice: An Interview with Katrina Forrester

Author:
Katrina Forrester
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Toynbee Prize Foundation
Abstract:
John Rawls was undoubtedly one of the most influential liberal political philosophers of the twentieth century. His most famous book, A Theory of Justice, was published in 1971. Prof Katrina Forrester, a historian of twentieth century political thought from Harvard University, tells the story of Rawls’s influence on liberal political philosophy in her recent book In the Shadow of Justice. Forrester shows how liberal egalitarianism—a set of ideas about justice, equality, obligation, and the state—became dominant, and traces its emergence from the political and ideological context of postwar Britain and the United States. In our conversation with Katrina Forrester we discussed Rawls’s creation of A Theory of Justice, how he responded to critiques of his theory, and how his work continues to shape our understanding of war and society up to the present day.
Topic:
Political Theory, Inequality, Philosophy, Ideology, Justice, and Liberalism
Political Geography:
Britain and United States

16. A Roundtable on Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Do Morals Matter?: Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump

Author:
Kelly M. McFarland, Lori Clune, Danielle Richman, Wilson D. (Bill) Miscamble, Seth Jacobs, Vanessa Walker, and Joseph S. Nye Jr.
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR)
Abstract:
A Roundtable on Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Do Morals Matter?: Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, International Relations Theory, Political Science, American Presidency, and Morality
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

17. Frantz Fanon: The Brightness of Metal

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
This dossier offers a sparkling introduction to Fanon’s life and work, stressing the contemporary political traction of his radical humanism, and noting that his work carries an ‘irrepressible openness to the universal’ and an axiomatic commitment to ‘recognize the open door of every consciousness’. It examines, in particular, Fanon’s contribution as a theorist of praxis committed to move beyond the ontological and spatial ordering of oppression and undertake a form of insurgent and democratic praxis in which ‘a mutual current of enlightenment and enrichment’ is developed between protagonists from different social locations.
Topic:
Political Theory, Social Order, and Biography
Political Geography:
Global Focus

18. A Few Problems with Mouffe’s Agonistic Political Theory

Author:
Monika Mazur-Bubak
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The main goal of examining a single philosophical theory, connected with social and political disciplines, is not just to identify its incoherence or to restate the theory in a more elegant way. More important in that kind of investigation is to show its possible impact on people’s lives and the functioning of communities. Thus, it seems more reasonable to conduct a critical analysis of the possible consequences for a real society than to undertake a simple study of the argument’s logical consistency. The main aim of this paper is to introduce doubts about the thesis of Chantal Mouffe presented by her in Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically and Passion and Politics. Main hypothesis is that thinking about the “political” and “politics” with reference to enmity as well as claiming that the source of every political and social activity is antagonism, can provoke an attitude that social and political scenes are battlefields rather than an agora or the space of human interactions. First of all, the author provides the critical analysis and reconstruction of the most important claims connected with the “political”, which can have strong negative effects-i.e. brutalization and creating a negative basis for social relation. Then presents a few possible sources of thinking of “political” as a “competition” or rather “enmity”. The last part it is the critic of what Mouffe claims about reason why people get involve into politics, based on the psychological experiments and in result of this the author shows the importance of validity the high standards in politics, diplomacy and relation on the social level.
Topic:
Politics, Political Theory, Democracy, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

19. Local Self-Government as a Problem of Political Theory

Author:
Łukasz Swieciki
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The article aims at restoring local self-government as a research problem of political theory. In contemporary political science literature, local self-government is not treated as one of its normal, standard research problems. The main obstacle of its ambiguous position within political theory is, as I argue, the forced and imposed apolitical character of local self-government considered as a part of public administration. Despite some degree of organizational, especially institutional and legal, self-determination, the local self-government is not a political, i.e. sovereign entity. However, its non-sovereign status, which is legally established, does not exclude the existence of political potency in it.
Topic:
Sovereignty, Political Theory, Governance, Legitimacy, and Local
Political Geography:
Global Focus

20. The Political Import of Deconstruction—Derrida’s Limits?: A Forum on Jacques Derrida’s Specters of Marx after 25 Years, Part I

Author:
Maja Zehfuss, Antonio Y. Vázquez-Arroyo, Dan Bulley, and Bal Sokhi-Bulley
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Jacques Derrida delivered the basis of The Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, & the New International as a plenary address at the conference ‘Whither Marxism?’ hosted by the University of California, Riverside, in 1993. The longer book version was published in French the same year and appeared in English and Portuguese the following year. In the decade after the publication of Specters, Derrida’s analyses provoked a large critical literature and invited both consternation and celebration by figures such as Antonio Negri, Wendy Brown and Frederic Jameson. This forum seeks to stimulate new reflections on Derrida, deconstruction and Specters of Marx by considering how the futures past announced by the book have fared after an eventful quarter century. Maja Zehfuss, Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo and Dan Bulley and Bal Sokhi-Bulley offer sharp, occasionally exasperated, meditations on the political import of deconstruction and the limits of Derrida’s diagnoses in Specters of Marx but also identify possible paths forward for a global politics taking inspiration in Derrida’s work of the 1990s.
Topic:
Post Colonialism, Political Theory, Philosophy, Decolonization, and Deconstruction
Political Geography:
Global Focus

21. Building Transnational Feminist Alliances: Reflections on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Author:
Awino Okech and Dinah Musindarwezo
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
This article reflects on transnational feminist organising by drawing on the experiences of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) during the consultations leading up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. First, we re-examine some of the debates that have shaped the field of women’s rights, feminist activism and gender justice in Africa, and the enduring legacies of these discourses for policy advocacy. Second, we analyse the politics of movement-building and the influence of development funding, and how they shape policy discourses and praxis in respect of women’s rights and gender justice. Third, we problematise the nature of transnational feminist solidarity. Finally, drawing on scholarship about transnational feminist praxis as well as activism, we distil some lessons for feminist policy advocacy across geo-political divides.
Topic:
Globalization, International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, Political Theory, Women, Sustainable Development Goals, International Relations Theory, and Alliance
Political Geography:
Africa and Global Focus

22. From Binary to Intersectional to Imbricated Approaches: Gender in a Decolonial and Diasporic Perspective

Author:
Andréa Gill and Thula Pires
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
This article proposes a re-reading of the problem of gender, or as it has been put, more often than not, ‘the woman problem,’ that resists the reproduction of modern/colonial systems of governance and their political norms, standards, ideals and pacts. In turn, it seeks to open pathways to dialogue with, rather than import, conceptions of gender that respond to the terms through which modern/colonial societies have been forged on the continent of Abya Yala, drawing inspiration from decolonial and diasporic perspectives. To this end, the article maps some of the available channels of the gender debate in what has come to be known as the global South from an array of perspectives that highlight the ways in which the relations between categories of oppression and privilege (such as race, class, sexuality and gender) are reflected and positioned so as to grapple with the coloniality of knowledge, power and being. More specifically, it focuses on three ways of dealing with power dynamics in the context of Abya Yala that have influenced how we conceive and respond to questions of gender. Its primary objective is to investigate the politico-epistemic conditions that structure gender thinking in binary and intersectional ways, and, in turn, open space for imbricated approaches forged from within (post-)colonial histories that do not take as their starting point the importation of theoretical references from places otherwise situated within a global political economy of knowledge/power/being. More than a critique of theoretical standpoints from the global North, in and of themselves, which regardless were not thought to respond to our realities, here we analyse the terms through which gender and feminisms have been put up for debate. Without effectively decentring the Eurocentred references that preoccupy gender thinking in our respective disputes, we risk continued distraction from what is at stake when gender is put on the table: the (im)possibilities of living one’s full humanity on one’s own terms.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Political Theory, Diaspora, Women, and International Relations Theory
Political Geography:
Europe, Latin America, and Global Focus

23. Gender Issues in the Ivory Tower of Brazilian IR

Author:
Mariana Pimenta Oliveira Baccarini, Xaman Korai Minillo, and Elia Elisa Cia Alves
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
What is the status of women in the discipline of International Relations (IR) in Brazil? This study provides a pioneering map of gender issues in Brazilian IR, focusing on inequality, discrimination and harassment. It includes a literature review as well as the findings of two sets of research: the first a survey of personal and professional issues faced by academic staff in Brazilian IR, and the second a report on the staffing of IR and related departments at private and public academic institutions in Brazil. Our research shows that despite the specificities of the Brazilian higher education system, Brazilian IR academics conform to international trends in respect of gender issues, facing monetary and/or familial inequalities and gender discrimination in their careers. It also shows that 25% of female academics have experienced undesired sexual contact at least once, and that there is a gap between male and female understandings of what constitutes sexual harassment.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Theory, and International Relations Theory
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

24. Gender and Feminisms in IR: Reviewing Theory and Practice: Interview with Marysia Zalewski

Author:
Amanda Álvares Ferreira
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Marysia Zalewski is a Professor at Cardiff University, in Wales, and a renowned International Relations (IR) scholar. She has become a reference for her work with feminism and gender since the 1990s. She has published several books including The ‘Man’ Question in International Relations (edited with Jane Parpart, re-released in 2019 by Routledge), Feminist International Relations: Exquisite Corpse (2013) and Sexual Violence against Men in Global Politics edited with Paula Drumond, Elisabeth Prügl and Maria Stern (2018), among many other books and articles. Her work has brought important contributions in thinking feminist critical methodologies, as well as looking at everyday life as a productive site for empirical and theoretical analysis of how gender is implicated in international politics. She was in Rio de Janeiro for an event at the International Relations Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio), where she was part of two panels called ‘Rethinking the Borders between Gender and Sexuality’ and ‘The Rise of Conservatisms and the Challenges to the Women, Gender and Sexuality Agendas.
Topic:
International Relations, Gender Issues, Political Theory, International Relations Theory, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. Civ-mil in Danger? Blame the pundits, not the academies.

Author:
George Fust
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
I teach civil-military relations at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. While searching for readings for an elective course taught in the spring semester, I came across a 2010 article written in the L.A. Times, “An increasingly politicized military.” One passage stood out: “By all accounts, the curricula of the service academies and the war colleges give remarkably little attention to the central importance of civilian control. They do not systematically expose up-and-coming officers to intensive case studies and simulations designed to give them a sense of the principle’s real-world implications.” So where are we now? Nearly a decade later, those cadets have graduated and are now midcareer officers. Do civilians have less control over the military as a result of the claim that the military received poor instruction on proper civ-mil relations? Can curriculum “fix” broken civilmilitary relations?
Topic:
Political Theory, Military Affairs, and Civil-Military Relations
Political Geography:
United States and North America

26. Reflections on Russell Kirk

Author:
Lee Trepanier
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Humanitas
Abstract:
A century has passed since the birth of Russell Kirk (1918-94), one of the principal founders of the post-World War II conservative revival in the United States.1 This symposium examines Kirk’s legacy with a view to his understanding of constitutional law and the American Founding. But before we examine these essays, it is worth a moment to review Kirk’s life, thought, and place in American conservatism.
Topic:
Religion, Political Theory, Domestic Politics, and Conservatism
Political Geography:
United States

27. Extremism, The American Founding, and Russell Kirk’s The Roots of American Order

Author:
Luigi Bradizza
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Humanitas
Institution:
The Center for the Study of Statesmanship, Catholic University
Abstract:
Russell Kirk has three interlocking intentions in writing The Roots of American Order.1 First, he would draw our attention to the appearance of modern tyranny, particularly as established by the French and Russian revolutions, and have us see this form of tyranny as a new and especially dangerous type of political evil. Second, he aims to keep America from succumbing to a similar modern tyranny by arguing that America is largely the result of premodern strains of thought and historical and cultural experiences that have combined to give us an ordered liberty that, if properly understood and attended to, insulates us from modern tyranny.2 Third, in recovering an understanding of our ordered liberty, Kirk would also have us renew our loyalty to it on its own terms (apart from the protection it offers us from modern tyranny) and retain it as the substantial political goal toward which Americans can and should aim. In recovering an appreciation of the premodern roots of American order, Kirk sets himself against the position that America can be understood as a fundamentally early-modern liberal nation. Though recent scholarly work on the place of natural rights in the American Founding has raised questions about Kirk’s analysis of the Founding, it is my argument that Kirk’s analysis is largely sound because America’s political culture does indeed have deep roots in premodernity. Furthermore, Kirk’s analysis of modern tyranny is also sound. Despite the fact that debate over the character of the Founding is very much alive, and regardless of how it turns out, loyalty to Kirk’s understanding of ordered liberty is vital because the American ordered liberty that he describes is a precondition of human flourishing.
Topic:
Religion, Political Theory, Domestic Politics, and Conservatism
Political Geography:
United States

28. A Sympathetic Reading of Emerson’s Politics

Author:
William J. Berger
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Humanitas
Institution:
The Center for the Study of Statesmanship, Catholic University
Abstract:
Ralph Waldo Emerson has a complicated political legacy owing at least in part to his own intermittent and hesitant political activism, crass racism, and fierce individualism. Despite this, a steady stream of political philosophers have attended to Emerson’s work, with the likes of John Dewey proclaiming him “the philosopher of democracy” (1903). But as his writings continually direct readers inwards—away from social and political life—recovering an Emersonian politics is not a straightforward task. A basic difficulty lies in the fact that Emerson “did not consider himself a political thinker and focused his energies on issues that seem, at first glance far removed from politics. . . . From first to last Emerson regarded politics as one of the practical applications of ethics or moral philosophy, and he insisted that all political questions were, at bottom, moral” (Robinson, 2004: 1). But politics is not just morality scaled up. It raises distinct collective concerns to which individuated moral philosophy cannot speak. As such, imputing a political theory to Emerson is not a simple matter. Jennifer Gurley may best summarize the difficulty of recovering a political Emerson, noting: “of all the nineteenth century American writers we might describe as political, he is perhaps the one who most despised politics, proclaiming they are ‘odious and hurtful’. . .” (Gurley, 2007: 323).
Topic:
Political Theory and Philosophy
Political Geography:
United States

29. Bad World: The Negativity Bias in International Politics

Author:
Dominic D.P. Johnson and Dominic Tierney
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
A major puzzle in international relations is why states privilege negative over positive information. States tend to inflate threats, exhibit loss aversion, and learn more from failures than from successes. Rationalist accounts fail to explain this phenomenon, because systematically overweighting bad over good may in fact undermine state interests. New research in psychology, however, offers an explanation. The “negativity bias” has emerged as a fundamental principle of the human mind, in which people's response to positive and negative information is asymmetric. Negative factors have greater effects than positive factors across a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognition, motivation, emotion, information processing, decision-making, learning, and memory. Put simply, bad is stronger than good. Scholars have long pointed to the role of positive biases, such as overconfidence, in causing war, but negative biases are actually more pervasive and may represent a core explanation for patterns of conflict. Positive and negative dispositions apply in different contexts. People privilege negative information about the external environment and other actors, but positive information about themselves. The coexistence of biases can increase the potential for conflict. Decisionmakers simultaneously exaggerate the severity of threats and exhibit overconfidence about their capacity to deal with them. Overall, the negativity bias is a potent force in human judgment and decisionmaking, with important implications for international relations theory and practice.
Topic:
Political Theory, Emotions, International Relations Theory, and Psychology
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. Roundtable Discussion on Homegrown Theorizing

Author:
Ersel Aydinli, Mustafa Aydin, Andrey Makarychev, Karen Smith, Ramazan Gözen, Pinar Ipek, Deniz Kuru, Haluk Özdemir, Chih-yu Shih, Siddharth Mallavarapu, Ching-Chang Chen, Seçkin Köstem, Eyüp Ersoy, Knud Erik Jörgensen, and Berk Esen
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:
Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:
2nd All Azimuth Workshop on Widening the World of IR Theorizing 23-24 September 2016, Ankara
Topic:
International Relations, Political Theory, and Conference
Political Geography:
Turkey and Global Focus

31. Reshaping International Relations: Theoretical Innovations from Africa

Author:
Karen Smith
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:
Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:
This article is based on the assumption that theoretical contributions from the global South – and in this case, from Africa, do not need to be radically different from existing theories to constitute an advancement in terms of engendering a better understanding of international relations. Reinterpretations or modifications of existing frameworks and the introduction of new concepts for understanding are equally important. This is an accepted practice in mainstream IR, where existing theories are constantly amended and revisited. One need only consider the various incarnations of realist thought.While adaptations and conceptual innovations by western scholars are recognised as legitimate and adopted into the canon of theory, this is not always the case with similar contributions emerging from outside of the West. This article will examine three examples of such contributions by African scholars. The first group of scholars reinterpreted the concept of “middle power,” arguing that there are specific characteristics that set emerging middle powers like South Africa apart from traditional middle powers. The second, Deon Geldenhuys, developed the concept “isolated states” and generated a novel analytical framework to categorise states based on indicators of isolation. Finally, Thomas Tieku draws on the African worldview of ubuntu in calling for the state to be reconceptualised in a collectivist, societal way. It is hoped that these examples will illustrate that there are theoretical innovations emerging from the Global South that can assist us in not only better understanding international relations in a particular part of the world, but can in fact provide greater insights into the field as a whole.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Theory, Emerging States, and Power
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

32. Disrupted: The Post-Colonial Issue

Author:
Katie Washington
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
Abstract:
The aim of this journal is to disrupt the ‘single-story’ of mainstream foreign policy. Through highlighting both experienced and emerging voices from across the globe, we seek to understand, challenge, and critique foreign policy. This issue focuses on the theme of post-colonialism and foreign policy, which was chosen by our members and supporters. Through a post-colonial analytical lens, our contributors challenge the unquestioned objectivity of elitist, Western-centric foreign policy, and unpack the complex connections between gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality that are embedded in the everyday actions and politics of people from across the world. Alongside our written contributions, you will find artwork and poetry engaging with this theme. A feminist foreign policy brings all voices to the table, through whichever medium they choose to express themselves, challenging the academic and un-inclusive paradigm it is embedded in. Thank you for supporting this publication. CFFP is a non-profit volunteer-run organisation and we are proud to lead the way in making foreign policy more feminist, more transparent, and more intersectional. With your support, we’re amplifying a different and more nuanced conversation that can better inform policy decisions and begin to alleviate global inequality. We hope you enjoy and learn from this journal, but we also encourage you to consider contributing to our next issue. From articles to artwork, we are always looking for new contributors and we are eager to hear (and see) new voices and fresh perspectives.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Gender Issues, Post Colonialism, Political Theory, Women, Feminism, LGBT+, and Indigenous
Political Geography:
Global Focus

33. The Crisis of Global Politics: Perspectives from Continental Philosophy

Author:
Josefin Graef, Scott Hamilton, Benjamin Martill, Elke Schwarz, and Uta Staiger
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
LSE IDEAS
Abstract:
Can the work of the great European philosophers help solve Europe's problems today? This report explores what we can learn from Heidegger, Arendt, and Anders about how to tackle populism, climate change, and technological change
Topic:
Political Theory and Global Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

34. Structure, Agents and Discourse in Managing Economic Crises: The Case of Greece, 2009-2017

Author:
Dimitris Tsarouhas
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
This article focuses on the discursive frames used by policy entrepreneurs in Greece as they attempted to deal with the 2009 crisis and analyses the role played by discourse in handling the crisis’ consequences. Adopting a historical institutionalist framework, I argue that ineffective policy outcomes can be attributed to a path- dependent logic enshrined in the country’s political economy structures following the transition to democracy post-1974. Moreover, the reaction of policy entrepreneurs to the crisis was reinforced by their discursive logic of action, itself embedded in the state’s institutional matrix. Procrastination, a refusal to face an uncomfortable reality and politics as usual colours the response of Greek actors to the country’s biggest crisis in recent memory.
Topic:
International Relations and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Greece

35. Trumps First Year at the Helm

Author:
Ville Sinkkonen and Mika Aaltola
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Donald Trump’s first year as President has been marked by continuity in US security policy, a partial challenge to the global principles of free trade, and a sea change in commitments to the liberal international order. These reflect a view of the international system as a zero-sum competitive realm.
Topic:
International Political Economy, Political Theory, and Capitalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus