Overcoming Poststructuralism

Antony O'Loughlin, Solicitor, Mishcon de Reya, UK.

'Antony O'Loughlin addresses two important questions: the moral grounding of human rights claims, and the specific properties of practical reasoning in international affairs. Serious-minded, lucid and compelling, O'Loughlin offers a fresh way of thinking about many of today's most urgent, and somewhat frightening problems in international relations.' - Anthony Julius, Deputy Chairman, Mishcon de Reya

• 1. Introduction: The 'Enormous Creative Potential of Practical Reason' PART I: THE CHALLENGE – POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND IR'S RESPONSE 2. Inside/Outside: Walker, Ashley, and the Poststructuralist Critique of IR 3. Overcoming the Poststructuralist Critique? Ontology and Epistemology in the Constructivist Theories of Wendt and Kratochwil 4. Constitutive Political Theory: Mervyn Frost and the Role of Norms in International Political Theory PART II: THE SOLUTION – CONSTRUCTING NORMATIVE REASON 5. Beyond Coherence: Rawls's Conception of Public Reason 6. Contemporary Moral Foundationalism: Buchanan's Conception of Normative Reasoning and the Role of Institutions in Political Justification 7. Philosophical Constructivism and Critical Constructivism Combined: Kratochwil's Account of the Conditions of Practical Reasoning and the Rawlsian Conception of Public Reason 8. The Concept of the Reasonable in International Political Justification: A Rejoinder to the Poststructualist Critique 9. Conclusion. Overcoming Poststructuralism