On the Historical Imagination of International Relations: The Case for a `Deweyan Reconstruction'

Abstract

Despite the recent profusion of historical scholarship in International Relations (IR), there has been little questioning of the positivist assumptions upon which much of that work is premised. This is important because if the assumptions upon which historical knowledge within IR scholarship is constructed were found to be flawed, then explanations that appear to successfully account for historical cases might not be as accurate as we would like to believe. In response to this problem, this article explores John Dewey's pragmatist approach towards history, arguing that Dewey's pragmatism views historical knowledge as socially constructed, but not necessarily to the exclusion of alternative perspectives. The article concludes that Deweyan pragmatism not only provides a more useful way to go about historical research, but also recovers for IR the ability to engage in work that is explicitly for something, and in particular, for the improvement of the public good.

Traversing the Romance of a Liberal International Order: The Democratic Peace Thesis and the Regional Security Problematique in South Asia

“…However, the normative turn in IR (Shapcott, 2000), with all the criticisms levelled against positivism, a priori assumptions, rationalism and empiricism, foregrounded the significance of history for IR theory (Hobden & Hobson, 2002). It was a response to the over-determinism of positivism and rationalism in the making of IR theory (Isacoff, 2002; Kratochwil, 2006; Vaughan-Williams, 2005). Such a transition was also a product of the need felt among the social scientists for moving beyond objectivism and relativism (Bernstein, 1983).…”

What Should Be Done? Pragmatic Constructivist Ethics and the Responsibility to Protect

“…For part of the transnational community of practice motivated by an 69 Niebuhr 193269 Niebuhr [2001, xxxi. 70 Cochran 199970 Cochran , 200270 Cochran , 2012Goldman 2013;Isacoff 2002;Kratochwil 2009 Before elaborating on R2P's 'life-cycle', it is necessary to address the argument that those supporting R2P (or the R2P community of practice) might justify a normative commitment to atrocity prevention with recourse to the kind of abstract and foundationalist thinking that is seemingly ruled out by the communitarian epistemology demanded by constructivism. This might mean that constructivists can only support the implicit claims to a common humanity contained within the R2P norm if they adopt moral standpoints exogenous to their social theory.…”

“… 70. Cochran 1999, 2002a, 2012; Haas and Haas 2002; Isacoff 2002; Kratochwil 2009, 2011; Nyman 2016; Rytövuori-Apunen 2005. …”

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