Reformational Insights for the Study of International Relations

Abstract

This essay presents a brief overview of selected insights deriving from reformational social and political philosophy, especially that of Herman Dooyeweerd, relevant to the study of international relations. Three clusters of potentially fruitful reformational concepts are identified. These relate to, first, the nature of the discipline of International Relations; second, the “structural purpose” of the state and other political entities; third, the plural, non-state actors of global civil society. It is proposed that distinctively reformational insights can offer illuminating orientations towards, or at least pose valuable research questions confronting, the development of a Christianly-informed ir theory today.

Free Markets and Public Interests in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Comparative Analysis of Catholic and Reformational Critiques of Neoliberal Thought

“…On the basis of its public legal power, the state can open up to the individual person a legal sphere of freedom, providing that person with the guarantee of freedom from oppression by other communities (Dooyeweerd, 1997: 98). The realization of the nature of the state is not automatic; it is the normative vocation of an institution led by responsible human actors (Chaplin, 2015: 46). The state’s power is limited, as the state is bound to the principle of sphere sovereignty of other societal structures (Dooyeweerd, 1969/1984c: 445, 446).…”