Transcript Marksističke teorije međunarodnih odnosa i reflektivističko

Marksističke teorije međunarodnih
odnosa i reflektivističko-alternativni
pristupi izučavanju međunarodnih
odnosa
Marxist theories of
International Relations
Dok god je svet u biti svet nejednakih, i dok god su socijalne
razlike između ljudi ogromne, marksističke teorije imaće
veliku ulogu u razumevanju sveta u kojem živimo.
Kada se pogledaju indikatori uslova u kojima ljudi žive sve
je jasno na prvi pogled.
Ostrvca bogatih i okeani siromašnih (Injasio Ramone)
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Jedna petina svetskog stanovništa živi u ekstremnom siromaštvu
Prosečni prihodi u bogatih 20 zemalja su 37 puta veći nego u dvadeset
najsiromašnijih i taj odnos se skoro duplirao u poslednjih dvadeset godina
Subvencije za poljoprivredne proizvode u razvijenim zemljama su 6 puta
veći od pomoći za razvoj koja se ukazuje zemljama u razvoju i nerazvijenim
zemljama
Carine (ne računajući tzv. necarinske barijere) za robu iz nerazvijenih
zemalja su 4 puta veće nego na robu iz zemalja OECD-a
Više od 30 000 dece umre svakog dana od zaraza koje se veoma lako mogu
sprečiti
Jedna milijarda ljudi nema pristup zdravoj vodi za piće
Ukupno bogatstvo 358 svetskih milijardera prevazilazi zarade 45 procenata
svetskog stanovništva
U Africi samo jedna trećina dece uspe da završi osnovnu školu
Afričke zemlje plaćaju svakog dana 40 miliona dolara samo na ime kamata i
otplatu dugova
Introduction: the continuing
relevance of Marxism
Marx’s work retains its relevance despite the
collapse of Communist party rule in the former
Soviet Union.
 Of particular importance is Marx’s analysis of
capitalism, which has yet to be bettered.
 Marxist analyses of international relations aim to
reveal the hidden workings of global capitalism.
These hidden workings provide the context in
which international events occur.
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The essential elements of Marxist
theories of world politics
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Marx himself provided little in terms of a
theoretical analysis of International Relations.
 His ideas have been interpreted and
appropriated in a number of different and
contradictory ways resulting in a number of
competing schools of Marxism.
 Underlying these different schools are several
common elements that can be traced back to
Marx's writings.
Kapitalizam
 Sredstva za proizvodnju
 Proizvodni odnosi
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First, all the marxist theorists share with Marx
the view that the social world should be
analysed as a totality.
 For them the academic division of the social
world into different areas of enquiry – history,
philosophy, economics, political science,
sociology, international relations etc. – is both
arbitrary and unhelpful.
 Rather, none can be understood without
knowledge of the others: the social world had
to be studied as a whole
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Another key element of Marxist thought,
which serves further to underline this concern
with interconnection and context, is the
materialist conception of history.
 The central contention here is that process of
historical change are ultimately a reflection of
the economic development of society
 Means of production + relations of
production = economic base of society
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Class plays a key role in Marxist analysis.
In contrast to liberals who believe that
there is an essential harmony of interest
between various social groups, Marxist
hold that society is systematically prone to
class conflict.
Marxism, one or many?
World-system theory
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World-system theory can be seen as a direct
development of Lenin’s work on imperialism and
the Latin American dependency school.
 Immanuel Wallerstein and his work on the
modern world-system is a key contribution to this
school.
 Wallerstein’s work has been developed by a
number of other writers who have built on his
initial foundational work.
Za Valerštajna ključna forma
organizovanja društva kroz istoriju su
svetski sistemi .
 Postoje dva tipa svetskog sistema kroz
istoriju: 1) svetske imperije 2) svetske
ekonomije.
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Glavna razlika između njih se zasniva na tome
kako se donose odluke o raspodeli resursa
(bogatstava).
 U svetskim imperijama, centralizovani politički
sistem koristi svoju moć da preraspodeli resurse
od perifernih obalsti ka oblasti središnjeg jezgra.
 U svetskim ekonomijama nema takvog
centralnog političkog sistema već pre postoji više
međuasobno kompetitivnih centara moći.
Resursi se ne distribuiraju političkimm odlukama
nego preko tržišta koje postaje posrednik.
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IAKO JE MEHANIZAM ZA
RASPODELU RESURSA
RAZLIČIT, EFEKAT JE ISTI:
RESURSI IDU OD PERIFERIJE
KA CENTRU
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MODERNI SVETSKI SISTEM JE PRIMER
SVETSKE EKONOMIJE
Taj sistem se pojavio u Evropi početkom
16.veka, onda se proširio na ceo svet.
vodeća snaga ovog sistema je kapitalizam
sve se društvene institucije vremenom
menjaju i prilagođavaju promenjenim
okolnostima
Vremenom, doći će do kraja ovog sistema
tri ekonomske zone sveta: jezgro (centar),
poluperiferija, periferija;
 poluperiferije imaju neke od karakteristika
i jedne i druge oblasti
 eksploatatorski odnos koji danas postoji u
svetu i koji izvlači bogatstva iz periferije i
prenosi ga u centar
 Ovo su bili elementi prostorne dimenzije
sistema
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Postoje i vremenska dimenzija sistema.
Njeni elementi su: ciklični ritmovi (boom
and bust u svetskoj ekonomiji); sekularni
trendovi (dugoročni rast ili smanjenje
svetske ekonomije); protivrečnosti
(smanjiti plate, a maksimizirati profite
vlasnika); krize (kad se ova tri elementa
pojave na taj način da sistem više ne
može funkcionisati)
Valerštajnove prognoze o
padu američke moći
Gramscianism
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Drawing upon the work of Antonio Gramsci for
inspiration, writers within an ‘Italian’ school of
international relations have made a considerable
contribution to thinking about world politics.
Gramscianism
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Gramsci shifted the focus of Marxist analysis
more towards superstructural phenomena. In
particular he explored the processes by which
consent for a particular social and political
system was produced and reproduced through
the operation of hegemony. Hegemony allows
the ideas and ideologies of the ruling stratum to
become widely dispersed, and widely accepted,
throughout society.
The key question which animated
Gramsci’s theoretical work was why had it
proven to be so difficult to promote
revolution in Western Europe.
 The history of the early twentieth century
seemed to suggest, therefore, that there
was a flaw in classic Marxist analysis.
 But where had they gone wrong?
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Gramsci’s answer to this question revolves around his use of the
concept of hegemony.
Gramsci’s use of hegemony is also related to his understanding of
power, but it reflects a conceptualization of power that is broader
and richer than that usually encountered in the work of
contemporary realist.
Gramsci adopts Machiavelli’s view of power as a centaur, half beast,
half man: a mixture of coercion and consent.
However, the capitalist system was maintained not merely by
coercion, but also through consent.
Consent, on Gramsci’s reading is created and recreated by the
hegemony of the ruling stratum in society. It is this hegemony that
allows the moral, political, and cultural values of the dominant group
to become widely dispersed throughout society and to be accepted
bt subordinate groups as their own.
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Indeed, according to Gramsci’s analysis, dominant ideologies
become sedimented in society to the extent that they take on the
status of unquestioned “common sense”.
All this takes place through the institutions of civil society.
Civil society is the network of institutions and practices in society
that enjoy some autonomy from the state, and through which
groups and individuals organize, represent, and express themselves
to each other and to the state. These include, for example, the
media, the education system,. Churches, voluntary organizations,
etc.
Historic bloc – mutually reinforcing and reciprocal relationship
between the socio-economic relations (base) and political and
cultural practices (super-structure) that together underpin a given
order.
It is the interaction that matters
A counter-hegemonic struggle in civil society
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Thinkers such as Robert W. Cox have attempted
to ‘internationalize’ Gramsci’s thought by
transposing several of his key concepts, most
notably hegemony, to the global context.
Robert Cox- svetski poredak
 čuvena rečenica iz jednog njegovog članka
iz 1982. godine: ”Teorija je uvek za
nekoga i u nečije svrhe. Ne postoji
teorija koja se može razdvojiti od
tačke gledišta u vremenu i prostoru”
 Dakle, znanje, teorije i bezbednost uvek
služe nekome i nečijim ciljevima.
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Prema Koksu velike sile koje su se smenjivale, da tako
kažemo na čelu sveta, oblikovale su svetski poredak tako
da služi njihovim interesima. Tu se ne radi samo o
sredstvima prinude putem kojih su to uradili već i o
pokušaju da se stvori podrška među onima kojima takav
jedan poredak ne donosi prednosti.
Recimo, za dva skorašnja takva hegemona (Britanija i
SAD) takva vodeća ideja bila je slobodna trgovina.
Priča se da to donosi dobro svima a ipak neki
dobijaju mnogo više u celoj toj situaciji.
Critical theory
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Critical theory has its roots in the work of the
Frankfurt School, a group of thinkers including
Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert
Marcuse, and Jürgen Habermas.
 Among the key concerns of critical theorists is
emancipation, and, in particular, the human
capacities and capabilities appealed to in calls
for emancipatory action.
Sam naziv kritičke teorije treba razumeti u
kontekstu onoga što je Robert Koks označio kao
teorije koje rešavaju probleme
(problemsolving theories) i kritičke teorije.
 “Problemsolving theories” uzimaju postojeće
političke i društvene odnose i institucije kao
takve i zadatak teorija jeste da probleme koji
izrastaju iz takvih odnosa reše i poboljšaju.
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Kritičke teorije, nasuprot tome pokušavaju
da razumeju kako su se takvi odnosi i
institucije uopšte pojavili i šta i kako treba
da bude urađeno da bi se oni promenili.
LJUDSKA EMANCIPACIJADEFINICIJA:
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"OSLOBOĐENJE LJUDI, KAKO
POJEDINACA TAKO I GRUPA, OD
SOCIJALNIH, FIZIČKIH,
EKONOMSKIH POLITIČKIH I DRUGIH
PREPREKA KOJE IH SPREČAVAJU DA
SPROVEDU (OSTVARE) ONO ŠTO SU
ONI SLOBODNOM VOLJOM IZABRALI
DA URADE.
Critical theory
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Several different understandings of
emancipation have emerged from the critical
theory tradition. The first generation of the
Frankfurt School equated emancipation with a
reconciliation with nature. Habermas has argued
that emancipatory potential lies in the realm of
communication and that radical democracy is
the way in which that potential can be unlocked.
Critical theory
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Andrew Linklater has developed critical theory
themes to argue in favour of the expansion of
the moral boundaries of the political community,
and has pointed to the European Union as an
example of a post-Westphalian institution of
governance.
New Marxism
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New Marxism is characterized by a direct
(re)appropriation of the concepts and categories
developed by Marx.
 Bill Warren deploys Marx’s analysis of
capitalism and colonialism to criticize some of
the central ideas of dependency and worldsystem theorists.
 Justin Rosenberg, who was used key elements
of Marx’s writings to critique both realist
approach to International Relations and
globalization theory
Bill Warren – imperialism and the
rise of third world capitalism
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For Lenin, imperialism represented the phase where capitalism
definitively ceased to play any progressive function – imperialism
was both “the highest stage of capitalism” and its final stage. This
view become the standard Marxist and neo-Marxist position through
much of the twentieth century.
The British Marxist, Bill warren rejected this view.
In his book Imperialism: Pioneer of Capitalism (1980) he argued
that Lenin had been both empirically and theoretically mistaken.
He repeated Marx’s argument that capitalism is a necessary stage in
human development
Capitalism according to Warren, was fulfilling his historic role in the
periphery by rapidly developing the means of production, and,
crucially for a future transition to socialism, facilitating the mergence
of an urban working class. Imperialism should therefore be seen as
“the pioneer of capitalism” rather than its “highest stage”
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Development of capitalism in a range of Third World countries had
brought marked improvement in material sense. This improvement
took three main forms – better health care, better education, and
greater access to consumer goods. Each of these was crucial in
laying the foundations for the long-term development of productive
forces.
Furthermore, Warren argues that in the post-colonial era there has
been an enormous increase in the wealth and productive capacity of
Third World Countries.
This process has, of course, been uneven, and there have been
winners and losers, but such irregularities are inherent in capitalist
development.
Overall, Warren suggests that the picture of North-South relations
depicted by the dependency theorists and world-systems theorists is
an incomplete one.
Warren’s argument is clearly a contentious one.
 Nonetheless, in one important sense he could be
viewed as being essentially correct. Imperialism
was not the “highest stage” of capitalism as
Lenin had claimed, it was rather “the pioneer”
by which the capitalist mode of production
expanded from its European heartland
throughout the globe.
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Justin Rosenberg – capitalism and
global social relations
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Warren focuses primarily on the economic possibilities that the
expansion of capitalism provides for Third World Countries. By
contrast, the focus of Rosenberg’s analysis is the character of the
international system and its relationship to the changing character
of social relations.
His critique of Realist International Relations Theory, especially to
realism’s claim to provide an ahistorical, essentially timeless account
of international relations.
He analyses the differences in the character of international
relations between the Greek and Italian city-states. A touchstone of
Realist theory is the similarity between these two historical cases.
Rosenberg however, describes the alleged resemblances between
these two eras as a “gigantic optical illusion”.
Instead his analysis suggests that the character of the international
system in each of these periods was completely different.
As an alternative, Rosenberg argues for the
development of a theory of international
relations that is sensitive to the changing
character of world politics.
This theory must also recognize that
international relations are part of a broader
pattern of social relations.
The character of the relations of production
permeate the whole of society – right up to,
and including, relations between the states.
The form of the state will be different under
different modes of production, and as a result
the characteristics of inter-state relations will
also vary.
 Hence if we want to understand the way that
the international system operate in any
particular era, our starting point has to be an
examination of the mode of production, and in
particular the relations of production.
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New Marxism
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Rosenberg uses Marx’s ideas to criticize realist theories
of international relations, and globalization theory. He
seeks to develop an alternative approach which
understands historical change in world politics as a
reflection of transformations in the prevailing relations of
production.
Two of the core concepts in Realist theory, sovereignty
and anarchy can fruitfully be reevaluated in the light’s of
Marxist method. Both of them reflect particular features
of the capitalist era.
Book – The Empire of Civil Society: A Critique of the
Realist Theory of International Relations, 1994
Marxist theories of International
Relations and globalization
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Marxists are rather sceptical about the
emphasis currently being placed on the notion
of globalization.
 Rather than being a recent phenomenon they
see the recent manifestations of globalization
as being part of long-term trends in the
development of capitalism.
 Furthermore the notion of globalization is
increasingly being used as an ideological tool
to justify reductions in workers rights and
welfare provision.
Alternativno - kritički pristupi
izučavanju međunarodnih odnosa
Introduction
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Realism, liberalism, and Marxism together
comprised the inter-paradigm debate of the
1980s, with realism dominant amongst the three
theories.
 Despite promising intellectual openness,
however, the inter-paradigm debate ended up
naturalizing the dominance of realism by
pretending that there was real contestation.
Introduction
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In recent years, the dominance of realism has
been undermined by three developments:
first, neo-liberal institutionalism has
become increasingly important; second,
globalization has brought a host of other
features of world politics to centre-stage;
third, positivism, the underlying
methodological assumption of realism, has
been significantly undermined by
developments in the social sciences and in
philosophy.
Explanatory/constitutive theories and
foundational/anti-foundational theories
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Theories can be distinguished according to
whether they are explanatory or constitutive
and whether they are foundational or antifoundational. As a rough guide, explanatory
theories tend to be foundational and constitutive
theories tend to be anti-foundational.
Explanatory/constitutive theories and
foundational/anti-foundational theories
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The three main theories comprising the interparadigm debate were based on a set of
positivist assumptions, namely that a denial of
the idea that social science theories can use the
same methodologies as theories of the natural
sciences, that facts and values can be
distinguished, that neutral facts can act as
arbiters between rival truth claims, and that the
social world has regularities which theories can
‘discover’.
Explanatory/constitutive theories and
foundational/anti-foundational theories
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Since the late 1980s there has been a rejection of
positivism, with the main new approaches tending
more towards constitutive and anti-foundational
assumptions.
The current theoretical situation is one in which
there are three main positions: first, rationalist
theories that are essentially the latest versions of
the realist and liberal theories; second, alternative
theories that are post-positivist; and thirdly social
constructivist theories that try to bridge the gap.
Explanatory/constitutive theories and
foundational/anti-foundational theories
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Alternative approaches at once differ
considerably from one another, and at the same
time overlap in some important ways. One thing
that they do share is a rejection of the core
assumptions of rationalist theories.
Historical sociology
 Normative theory
 Feminist theory
 Post-modernism
 Post- colonialism
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Historical sociology
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Historical sociology has a long history, having
been a subject of study for several centuries. Its
central focus is with how societies develop the
forms that they do.
 Contemporary historical sociology is concerned
above all with how the state has developed
since the Middle Ages. It is basically a study of
the interactions between states, classes,
capitalism, and war.
Historical sociology
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In his 1990 book, Coercion, Capital and European States, AD 9001990, Tilly poses the following question: “What accounts for the
great variation over time and space in the kinds of states that have
prevailed in Europe since AD 900, and why did European States
eventually converge on different form of national state?”
Namely, he looks at how the three main kinds of state forms that
existed at the end of the Middle Ages eventually converged on one
form, namely the national state. He argues that the decisive reason
was the ability of the national state to fight wars.
Distinguished between capital-intensive and coercion-intensive
regimes (or economic power-based and military power based
system), Tilly notes that three types of states resulted from the
combinations of these forms of power, tribute making empires,
systems of fragmented sovereignty (city-states), and national states.
These states were the result of the different class structure that
resulted from the concentrations of capital and coercion.
With the rise of the scale of war, the result was
that national states started to acquire a decisive
advantage over the other kinds of state
organizations.
 This was because national states could afford
large armies and could respond to the demands
of the classes representing both agricultural and
commercial interests.
 States, in other words become transformed by
war
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Tilly notes that the three types of states noted
above, all converged on one version of the state,
so now that is seen as the norm.
 Yet, in contrast to neo-realism , he notes that
the state has not been of one form throughout
its history.
 The national state acquires more and more
power over its population by its involvement in
war, and therefore could dominate other state
forms because they were more efficient than
either tribute-gathering empires or city-states in
this process.
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Michael Mann has developed a powerful model of the
sources of state power, known as the IEMP Model.
(Ideological, Economic, Military, and Political
Forms of Power)
 Book – The Sources of Social Power, 4 Volume,
1986-2003
 This is an enormously ambitious project, aimed
at showing just how states have taken the forms
that they have.
 In other words, Mann studies the ways in which
the various forms of power have combined in
specific historical circumstances
His work is similar to Tilly, but the major
innovation of Mann’s work is that he has
developed a sophisticated account of forms of
power that combine to form certain types of
states.
 Mann differentiates between three aspects of
power: 1. Between distributive and collective
power 2. Extensive and Intensive power 3.
Power may be authoritative and diffused
 Mann argued that that the most effective
exercise of power combines all three elements.
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Her argues that there are four sources of social power,
which together may determine the overall structure of
societies. The four are: 1. Ideological power derives
from the human need to find ultimate meaning in life, to
share norms and values and to participate in aesthetic
and ritual practices 2. Economic power derives from
the need to extract, transform, distribute and consume
the resources of nature 3. Military power is the social
organization of physical force. It derives from the
necessity of organized defense and the utility of
aggression. 4. Political power derives from the
usefulness of territorial and centralized regulation.
Political power means state power.
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The struggle to control ideological,
economic, military, and political power
organizations provides the central drama
of social development. Societies are
structured primarily by entwined
ideological, economic, military, and
political power.
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Like realism, historical sociology is interested in
war. But it undercuts neo-realism because it
shows that the state is not one functionally
similar organization, but instead has altered over
time.
 The concerns of historical sociology are
compatible with a number of the other
approaches surveyed in this chapter including
feminism and postmodernism.
Normative theory
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Normative theory was out of fashion for decades
because of the dominance of positivism, which portrayed
it as ‘value-laden’ and ‘unscientific’.
In the last fifteen years or so there has been a
resurgence of interest in normative theory. It is now more
widely accepted that all theories have normative
assumptions either explicitly or implicitly.
“By normative international relations theory is meant that
body of work which addresses the moral dimension of
international relations and the wider questions of
meaning and interpretation generated by the discipline.”
(Chris Brown)
Normative theory
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The key distinction in normative theory is
between cosmopolitanism and
communitarianism. The former sees the bearers
of rights and obligations as individuals; the latter
sees them as being the community (usually the
state).
 Main areas of debate in contemporary normative
theory include the autonomy of the state, the
ethics of the use of force, and international
justice.
Normative theory
The moral value assigned to state
autonomy
 The ethics of interstate violence – known
as Just War Theory
 The issues of international Justice
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The moral value assigned to state
autonomy
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međunarodna politika počiva na društvu država sa određenim
pravilima, premda ta pravila nisu uvek sasvim poštovana.
Najvažnije pravilo je državni suverenitet, koji zabranjuje državama
intervenisanje izvan vlastitih državnih granica u prostor tuđe
jurisdikcije.
Politikolog Majkl Volcer, na primer, smatra da nacionalne granice
imaju moralni značaj, zato što države predstavljaju ukupna prava
pojedinaca koji su se udružili radi zajedničkog života.
Drugi jednostavnije kažu da je poštovanje suvereniteta najbolji
način očuvanja poretka. „Dobre ograde stvaraju dobre susede“, po
rečima pesnika Roberta Frosta.
U praktičnom životu, ova pravila ponašanja država se često krše.
U nekoliko poslednjih decenija, Vijetnam je napao Kambodžu, Kina
napala Vijetnam, Tanzanija izvršila napad na Ugandu, Izrael napao
Liban, Sovjetski Savez je izvršio invaziju Avganistana, Sjedinjene
Američke Države su intervenisale u Grenadi i u Panami, Irak je
napao Iran i Kuvajt, Sjedinjene Države i Velika Britanija su napale
na Irak, a NATO je bombardovao Srbiju zbog načina na koji se
odnosila prema pokrajini Kosovo i Metohija- da navedemo samo
neke primere
The ethics of interstate violence –
known as Just War Theory
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U knjizi Just and Unjust Wars (Pravedni i nepravedni
ratovi), Majkl Volcer, politikolog koji nastupa sa pozicije
državnih moralista, iznosi četiri slučaja u kojima bi se
mogli moralno opravdati rat ili vojna intervencija, a da to
ne bude otvorena agresija. Prvi izuzetak od strogog
pravila je preduhitrujuća (preemptivna) intervencija, za
koju se kao primer uzima izraelski napad 1967. godine.
Drugo odstupanje od strogog pravila javlja se kada je
intervencija neohodna kako bi se uravnotežila prethodna
intervencija. Ovo pravilo potiče iz vremena Džona
Stjuarta Mila i liberalnog mišljenja devetneastog veka, i
govori o tome kako ljudi imaju pravo da odlučuju o
sopstvenoj sudbini. Treće odstupanje od pravila protiv
intervencije je kada je neophodno spasavanje ljudi
kojima preti masakr. Četvrto odstupanje od
neintervenisanja je pravo na pomoć secesionističkim
pokretima onda kada su reprezentativni.
The issues of international Justice
Specific regard to the obligations that the richer
states of the world have to poorer countries
 The question whether international institutions
have moral responsibilities.
 temeljna vrednost je pravda, a ključna
međunarodna institucija je društvo pojedinaca.
Prema tome, intervencija može da bude
opravdana ako unapređuje pravdu za pojedince i
ljudska prava. Dozvoljeno je intervenisati na
strani dobra.

Normative theory

In the last two decades, normative issues have
become more relevant to debates about foreign
policy, for example in discussions of how to
respond to calls for humanitarian intervention
and whether war should be framed in terms of a
battle between good and evil.
Feminist theory
Присталице феминистичке школе сматрају да
је проблем односа међу половима био
изостављен из литературе о међународној
безбедности, упркос чињеници да рат утиче
на жене
 Феминистичка школа такође истиче да
повратак питања односа међу половима може
да доведе до реконцептуализације студија
међународне безбедности
 Five main types of feminist theory: 1) liberal 2)
socialist/Marxist 3) standpoint 4) postmodern 5) post-colonial

Liberal feminism



Liberal feminism looks at the roles women play in
world politics and asks why they are marginalized. It
wants the same opportunities afforded to women as
are afforded to men.
All rights should be granted to woman equallly with
man. This is why liberal
Cynthia Enloe
Marxist/socialist (materialist)
feminists

Marxist/socialist (materialist) feminists
focus on the international capitalist
system. Marxist feminists see the
oppression of women as a by-product of
capitalism, whereas socialist feminists see
both capitalism and patriarchy as the
structures to be overcome if women are to
have any hope of equality.

Rosemary Hennessy, Chrys Ingraham, book –
Materialist feminism: A Reader in Class,
Difference and Women’s Lives, 1997
Standpoint feminists

Standpoint feminists, such as J. Ann Tickner
want to correct the male dominance of our
knowledge of the world. Tickner does this be redescribing the six ‘objective’ principles of
international politics developed by Hans
Morgenthau according to a female version of
the world.
 Standpoint feminists argue that seeing the world
from the standpoint of women radically alters our
understanding of that world.
Post-modernist feminist


Post-modernist feminists are concerned with gender as
opposed to the position of women as such. They look
into the ways in which masculinity and femininity get
constructed, and are especially interested in how world
politics constructs certain types of ‘men’ and ‘women’.
“It is an increasingly difficult position to defend that sex is
prior to gender. (the term gender usually refers to social
construction of differences between men and women)
The more one searches for the brute reality of sex, the
more one finds that is gendered – that is, that the
understanding of a sex as a fact is itself a “cultural
conceit”

Helen M. Kinsella
Postcolonial feminists

Postcolonial feminists, such as Gayatri Spivak,
work at the intersection of gender, race and
class on a global scale. They suggest that liberal
feminists and others have ignored the interests
and opinions of women in the global South often
preferring to speak on their behalf. This is a form
of cultural imperialism with important material
effects.
Post-modernism

Lyotard defines post-modernism as
incredulity towards metanarratives, meaning
that it denies the possibility of foundations for
establishing the truth of statements existing
outside of discourse.
 Foucault focuses on the power-knowledge
relationship and sees the two as mutually
constituted. It implies that there can be no truth
outside of regimes of truth. How can history
have a truth if truth has a history?
Post-modernism


Foucault proposes a genealogical approach to
look at history, and this approach uncovers how
certain regimes of truth have dominated others.
Derrida argues that the world is like a text in that it
cannot simply be grasped, but has to be interpreted.
He looks at how texts are constructed, and
proposes two main tools to enable us to see how
arbitrary are the seemingly ‘natural’ oppositions of
language. These are deconstruction and double
reading.
Post-modernism

Post-modern approaches have been accused
of being ‘too theoretical’ and not concerned with
the ‘real world’. They reply, however, that in the
social world there is no such thing as the ‘real’
world in the sense of a reality that is not
interpreted by us and have done a great deal of
work on important empirical questions such as
war and famine.
Postcolonialism

Given the state-centrism and positivism of IR,
postcolonial approaches have been largely
ignored until recently as old disciplinary
boundaries are breaking down.
 Postcolonialism essentially focuses on the
persistence of colonial forms of power in
contemporary world politics, especially how the
social construction of racial, gendered, and class
differences uphold relations of power and
subordination.
Postcolonialism

Most postcolonial research rejects positivism
given its claims to produce knowledge devoid
of race, gender, and class power hierarchies.
 Racism, in particular, continues to operate in
both obvious and sometimes subtle ways in
contemporary world politics but this is not
captured in traditional approaches to
international theory.
 Postcolonial research seeks to offer positive
resources for resistance to imperial and other
forms of power and not just critique.
 Edward Said
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