Epistemology, Postmodernism and International Relations Theory: A Reply to Østerud

Smith, Stewart

doi:10.1177/0022343397034003009

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Advocating a constructivist position, Kubálková et al evince the same type of argument and maintain that 'positivist assumptions have locked IR onto a particular point on a broad spectrum of philosophical possibilities ' (1998: 17). We can add George (1994), Alker (1996), Smith (1996Smith ( , 1997, Alker and Biersteker (1984) and many others as further examples. Influences from postmodernism, critical social theory, normative theory, feminism, historical sociology and humanist IR combine in the 'post-positivist' self-definition of critical IR.…”

Section: The Argument In Retrospectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forget ‘Post-Positivist’ IR!

Rytövuori-Apunen

2005

Cooperation and Conflict

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The relationship between critical international relations (IR) and the conventional mainstream or alleged ‘orthodoxy’ needs to be better articulated. Without connecting to previous theory it cannot logically seek to introduce new ‘turns’ for disciplinary development, and intellectual movement remains isolated choreography contributing to a field that is global only in the scope of its dispersion. Proceeding from this argument, the article undertakes some of the ‘groundwork’ so often neglected in the interests of coming up with new theory and approaches or of presenting the ‘next stage’ for disciplinary discussion. A reexamination of ‘post-positivism’ as a corporate self-definition of critical IR produces an identification of the disciplinary mainstream that highlights the legacy of IR theory in theory-centred approaches and universal taxonomy, thereby providing a locus for a pragmatist turn in the study of IR. Although pragmatist approaches have already won a place in the field, the challenge remains of transcending the dichotomies of the episteme that leaves this research at the margins of the mainstream. Pragmatism is a way of inquiry opposed to dogmatism and can facilitate communication through which a more global discipline can be created. The way proposed by the author combines Deweyan ethics with C. S. Peirce’s logic of the sign.

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Section: The Argument In Retrospectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forget ‘Post-Positivist’ IR!

Rytövuori-Apunen

2005

Cooperation and Conflict

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“…Nor has any postmodernist I have read argued or implied that "any narrative is as good as any other"'. 24 But the problem remains that if we cannot find a minimum of common standards for deciding about truth claims a post-modernist position appears unable to come up with a metatheoretically substantiated critique of the claim that the earth is flat. In the absence of at least some common standards it appears difficult to reject that any narrative is as good as any other.…”

Section: Positivism Versus Post-positivismmentioning

confidence: 99%

IR theory after the Cold War

Sørensen¹

1998

Rev. Int. Stud.

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The end of the Cold War has prompted a good deal of soul-searching in the academic discipline of International Relations (IR). Some results of this process are already apparent; the dominant version of realism, neorealism, is developing in new directions in an attempt to address major areas where the theory has been shown to contain weaknesses (e.g. domestic politics, international cooperation, the analysis of change). Liberal IR-theory is becoming less focused on international institutions and has devoted more attention to the larger issues of democracy and democratization, sovereignty, and change in the context of modernization and globalization. Some bodies of established theory are receiving fresh attention, including the International Society (or English) School, and there is a renewed interest in the field of international political economy.Many thanks to Kenneth Glarbo, Knud Erik J¿rgensen, Michael Nicholson, Steve Smith, and Alexander Wendt for very helpful comments on earlier drafts.

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“… 2 See also Smith (1997:333). Smith's writings on epistemological issues tended to deal with this aspect of the problem of objectivity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Theory Gets Real, and the Case for a Normative Ethic: Rostow, Modernization Theory, and the Alliance for Progress

Ish-Shalom¹

2006

Int Studies Q

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This paper looks at the complex relationship that exists between ideology, international relations theories, and the world of practice. It focuses on the role of theoretical concepts in forming foreign policy, asks whether theoreticians and theories act as agents in the political arena, and if so, what the consequences of this agency are. The paper attempts to show that theoretical concepts have a political role to play in the field of foreign affairs, and that to some degree they shape the reality that they try to study. As such, they blur the dichotomist distinction between subject and object, and should not be considered outside observers, which is a necessary precondition to objectivity. This agency and lack of objectivity, I claim, endow theoreticians with moral responsibility, and obligate the founding of research on morality. In order to demonstrate my claims I focus on U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America under the Kennedy administration, the influence of Walt W. Rostow regarding that policy, and what can be termed the rise and fall of modernization theory.

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Epistemology, Postmodernism and International Relations Theory: A Reply to Østerud

Cited by 15 publications

References 2 publications

Forget ‘Post-Positivist’ IR!

Forget ‘Post-Positivist’ IR!

IR theory after the Cold War

Theory Gets Real, and the Case for a Normative Ethic: Rostow, Modernization Theory, and the Alliance for Progress

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