Global Dialogues: Non Eurocentric Visions of the Global – serie

This book provides a generous immanent description of liberalism, but also works against and looks beyond it. It engages liberalism and its variants in IPE at a moment in time when liberalism and liberal internationalism are experiencing something of a crisis of confidence. Though we are deeply critical of liberalism, especially the variant that dominates in IPE, we picture liberalism as variegated and rife with doubt and tensions that potentially open it to traditions of thinking beyond itself. We also show how these tensions and doubts often prompt attempts at closure in the form of defensive maneuvers, like Eurocentric conceptions of development that justify Western dominance and the condemnation of scholarship that exposes relations of domination and subordination as violating the precepts of unit-level positive science. But recognizing these maneuvers as defensive reactions may help us grasp the moments of greater openness within liberalism that connect to traditions that think against and beyond its central tenets.

This book provides a generous immanent description of liberalism, but also works against and looks beyond it. It engages liberalism and its variants in IPE at a moment in time when liberalism and liberal internationalism are experiencing something of a crisis of confidence. Though we are deeply critical of liberalism, especially the variant that dominates in IPE, we picture liberalism as variegated and rife with doubt and tensions that potentially open it to traditions of thinking beyond itself. We also show how these tensions and doubts often prompt attempts at closure in the form of defensive maneuvers, like Eurocentric conceptions of development that justify Western dominance and the condemnation of scholarship that exposes relations of domination and subordination as violating the precepts of unit-level positive science. But recognizing these maneuvers as defensive reactions may help us grasp the moments of greater openness within liberalism that connect to traditions that think against and beyond its central tenets.

Explores the ancient relationship between India and China to conceptualise a 'third space' wherein we can discover how their emergence might benefit, rather than threaten, international society.

China and India are emerging in terms of their economics, demographics and military forces. This has caused speculations to abound around how these two giants of Asia can get along, affecting not just the region but the world at large. The book develops a “Silk Road Ethos” perspective, which examines the notion of ‘difference without alienation’ in order to create a third space of “China-India” wherein learning, circulation and co-constitution produces rich, complex, and cosmopolitan legacies. The book uses these new concepts to examine how the exchange of trade, commerce and cultural products, and to explore how the role of military and security practices, can be interrogated to better understand the relationships between India and China. It shows where, how, and why the complementaries between these nations can defuse, if not transform, the conflicts, contradictions, and challenges that currently beset each.

International Relations tends to rely on concepts that developed on the European continent, obscuring the fact that its history is far less ‘international’ than one might expect. But in today’s global world, who does this ignore and marginalize? And what impact does that have on the discipline’s potential to assess world politics?This book explores an Islamic approach to the ‘international’, showing that Islam can contribute keen insights into how we ‘do’ IR, and how we might change that practice to be more inclusive, while also highlighting the limits of an ‘Islamic International Relations’. Exploring conceptualizations of community and difference in Islamic traditions, the book relates these notions to concepts that are considered universal in IR, such as state-based politics and the necessity for secularism. In this way, the book shows how the study of political Islam might help to interrogate and redefine key concepts within international politics. In a world of continuing polarization between ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’, this book offers IR a chance to engage in a constructive dialogue with Islamic traditions, in order to better understand global politics.

International Relations tends to rely on concepts that developed on the European continent, obscuring the fact that its history is far less ‘international’ than one might expect. But in today’s global world, who does this ignore and marginalize? And what impact does that have on the discipline’s potential to assess world politics?This book explores an Islamic approach to the ‘international’, showing that Islam can contribute keen insights into how we ‘do’ IR, and how we might change that practice to be more inclusive, while also highlighting the limits of an ‘Islamic International Relations’. Exploring conceptualizations of community and difference in Islamic traditions, the book relates these notions to concepts that are considered universal in IR, such as state-based politics and the necessity for secularism. In this way, the book shows how the study of political Islam might help to interrogate and redefine key concepts within international politics. In a world of continuing polarization between ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’, this book offers IR a chance to engage in a constructive dialogue with Islamic traditions, in order to better understand global politics.

The concept of 'uneven and combined development' was originally coined by Leon Trotsky to theorise Tsarist Russia's distinctive experience of modernity and revolution. But it has re-emerged over the last decade or so as a burgeoning research programme within International Relations (IR) and historical sociology. It has been critically and creatively deployed in two main areas: the provision of a sociological foundation to international theory overcoming the chronic schism between ‘sociological’ and ‘geopolitical’ modes of enquiry; and, relatedly, in superseding prevailing Eurocentric approaches in the social sciences.This volume is the first to provide a sustained reflection on the idea of uneven and combined development as the intellectual basis for a non-Eurocentric social theory of ‘the international’. It does so through a series of empirically rich and theoretically informed analyses of socio-historical change, political transformation, and intersocietal conflict over the longue durée. The volume thereby aims to demonstrate the unique potentials of uneven and combined development in overcoming IR and historical sociology’s shared inability to theorize the interactive and multilinear character of development.

The concept of 'uneven and combined development' was originally coined by Leon Trotsky to theorise Tsarist Russia's distinctive experience of modernity and revolution. But it has re-emerged over the last decade or so as a burgeoning research programme within International Relations (IR) and historical sociology. It has been critically and creatively deployed in two main areas: the provision of a sociological foundation to international theory overcoming the chronic schism between ‘sociological’ and ‘geopolitical’ modes of enquiry; and, relatedly, in superseding prevailing Eurocentric approaches in the social sciences.This volume is the first to provide a sustained reflection on the idea of uneven and combined development as the intellectual basis for a non-Eurocentric social theory of ‘the international’. It does so through a series of empirically rich and theoretically informed analyses of socio-historical change, political transformation, and intersocietal conflict over the longue durée. The volume thereby aims to demonstrate the unique potentials of uneven and combined development in overcoming IR and historical sociology’s shared inability to theorize the interactive and multilinear character of development.

The book presents a possible way of reading and re-writing the Eurocentrism of International Relations. The method proposed to re-write histories of the manifestations and criticisms of Eurocentrism is through ‘connected histories’. The first section of the book focuses on manifestations of Eurocentrism in and through disciplinary formations and geopolitical contexts. This section explores the ‘field of IR’ as a problematic unit that already assumes a coloniality of power. It questions the existence of ‘fields of study’ and the borders between them by examining the permeability between history and IR, and highlighting how Eurocentric assumptions about world politics are reproduced in the different ‘fields’. The second section of the book focuses on criticisms of Eurocentrism in and through disciplines and geopolitical contexts. This setion explores the different ways in which theoretical strategies criticizing Eurocentrism were formulated in conversation with each other across disciplines and geopolitical contexts.

The book presents a possible way of reading and re-writing the Eurocentrism of International Relations. The method proposed to re-write histories of the manifestations and criticisms of Eurocentrism is through ‘connected histories’. The first section of the book focuses on manifestations of Eurocentrism in and through disciplinary formations and geopolitical contexts. This section explores the ‘field of IR’ as a problematic unit that already assumes a coloniality of power. It questions the existence of ‘fields of study’ and the borders between them by examining the permeability between history and IR, and highlighting how Eurocentric assumptions about world politics are reproduced in the different ‘fields’. The second section of the book focuses on criticisms of Eurocentrism in and through disciplines and geopolitical contexts. This setion explores the different ways in which theoretical strategies criticizing Eurocentrism were formulated in conversation with each other across disciplines and geopolitical contexts.

The collapse of the USSR wrought dramatic changes in Eurasia, both in terms of the structure of state power within the region, and the ways in which Western states and international organisations engaged with it. Analyses of conflict in this region remain rooted in supposed ‘global models’, often assuming that patterns of state failure are due to resistance to the liberal model of peacebuilding. This book sets out a challenge to these assumptions and framings. It not only questions but resolutely dismisses the notion that the peacebuilding methods favoured by Western states remain the most salient in Eurasia. Instead, it develops a framework that seeks to conceptualise the ways in which non-liberal actors contest or transform globally promoted norms of conflict management and promote alternative ones in their place. Authoritarian Conflict Management (ACM) consists of an ensemble of norms and practices in which non-liberal actors attempt to exert sustained hegemonic control over the local discursive, economic and spatial realms in a given territory. With case studies ranging from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, Xinjiang to the Caucasus, the chapters shed light on the ways in which local and regional actors enact practice of ACM in order to impose stability in conflict-prone localities, thereby challenging the Western-led consensus known as the ‘liberal peace’.

The collapse of the USSR wrought dramatic changes in Eurasia, both in terms of the structure of state power within the region, and the ways in which Western states and international organisations engaged with it. Analyses of conflict in this region remain rooted in supposed ‘global models’, often assuming that patterns of state failure are due to resistance to the liberal model of peacebuilding. This book sets out a challenge to these assumptions and framings. It not only questions but resolutely dismisses the notion that the peacebuilding methods favoured by Western states remain the most salient in Eurasia. Instead, it develops a framework that seeks to conceptualise the ways in which non-liberal actors contest or transform globally promoted norms of conflict management and promote alternative ones in their place. Authoritarian Conflict Management (ACM) consists of an ensemble of norms and practices in which non-liberal actors attempt to exert sustained hegemonic control over the local discursive, economic and spatial realms in a given territory. With case studies ranging from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, Xinjiang to the Caucasus, the chapters shed light on the ways in which local and regional actors enact practice of ACM in order to impose stability in conflict-prone localities, thereby challenging the Western-led consensus known as the ‘liberal peace’.

In an ever more globalized world, sustainable global development requires effective intercultural co-operations. This dialogue between non-western and western cultures is essential to identifying global solutions for global socio-political challenges. Modern Japanese Political Thought and International Relations critiques the formation of non-western International Relations by assessing Japanese political concepts to contemporary IR discourses since the Meji Restoration, to better understand knowledge exchanges in intercultural contexts. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of this dialogue, from international law and nationalism to concepts of peace and Daoism, this collection grapples with postcolonial questions of Japan’s indigenous IR theory.

In an ever more globalized world, sustainable global development requires effective intercultural co-operations. This dialogue between non-western and western cultures is essential to identifying global solutions for global socio-political challenges. Modern Japanese Political Thought and International Relations critiques the formation of non-western International Relations by assessing Japanese political concepts to contemporary IR discourses since the Meji Restoration, to better understand knowledge exchanges in intercultural contexts. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of this dialogue, from international law and nationalism to concepts of peace and Daoism, this collection grapples with postcolonial questions of Japan’s indigenous IR theory.