Engaging the “Animal Question” in International Relations

Abstract

By raising the “animal question” in International Relations (IR), this essay seeks to contribute not only to put animals and human–animal relations on the IR agenda, but also to move the field in a less anthropocentric and non-speciesist direction. More specifically, the essay does three things: First, it makes animals visible within some of the main empirical realms conventionally treated as the subject matter of IR. Second, it reflects on IR's neglect of animals and human–animal relations in relation to both how IR has been constituted as a field and the broader socio-cultural context in which it is embedded. Third, it explores various ways in which IR scholars can start incorporating and take animals and human–animal relations seriously in studies on international relations.

The Global Animal Advocacy Movement in International Relations: toward an animal-inclusive IR

“…By highlighting the relevance of GAAM, his paper seeks to rectify this deficiency and answer Fougner's call for IR to embrace the relevance of animals. 124 This paper demonstrated the significance of GAAM in two ways. First, it established that GAAM indeed qualifies as a GSM.…”

“…IR's disregard of animals is an unfortunate omission because as Fougner notes, the 'presence of animals' is 'in more or less everything having to with international relations'. 27 Over the past two decades there has been some movement away from a purely human view of IR. For example, 'green theory' advocates for replacing the state, which is central to traditional IR frameworks like realism, with a global politics that combats the neoliberal capitalist system that exploits nature.…”

“…44 The above-cited scholarship shows the importance of animals in global politics, but this line of scholarship stems from political theory and critical animal studies. The IR field has been slow to accept the relevance of animals, but because of scholars like Fougner 45 and others in the special issue, the time is ripe for the development of an animal-inclusive IR. This paper contributes to this endeavor by explicating the significance of GAAM, which to date has not been explored in a systematic fashion in the IR field.…”

“…91 Antipathy also stems from the anthropocentric concern that focusing on animal suffering would detract from human suffering. 92 However, just like movements on behalf of racial equality, anti-colonialism, economic fairness, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, GAAM combats dominant forces that subjugate other beings to serve their own ends. Thus, the fight for animal liberation complements the fight for human liberation.…”

Animals and diplomacy: on the prospect for interspecies diplomacy

“…Beyond broadening the scope of DS to incorporate human-animal relations, this essay speaks also to the more general problematic of animals and/in the study of international relations. In this connection, if the presence of animals within all conventional IR domains is recognized, 140 then how we develop and conduct our studies should in my view be informed by a key premise underpinning the present essay -namely, a conception of animals as agential subjects whose separate wills, interests and ways of being should be recognized and taken seriously. While this certainly implies a more-thanhuman conception of international relations, it also implies a conception of animals (human and non-human) as being something more than 'actants' within a Latourian scheme of things (as hinted at by Leira and Neumann and seemingly embraced by Constantinou and Opondo).…”