International Relations, Political Theory and the Problem of Order: Beyond International Relations Theory?

N. J. Rengger0415095840, 9780415095846

Focusing on the ”problem of order” in international politics, this book suggests that International Relations theory in the twentieth century had adopted two broad families of approaches, the first of which seeks to find ways of ”managing” order in international relations and the second of which seeks to ”end” the problem of order. It also assesses the state of International Relations theory today and suggests an alternative way of reading the problem of order which generates a different trajectory for theory in the twenty-first century.

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Table of contents :
Book Cover……Page 1
Half-Title……Page 2
Title……Page 4
Copyright……Page 5
Dedication……Page 6
Contents……Page 7
Series editor’s preface……Page 8
Preface……Page 10
Acknowledgements……Page 16
Order in the history of political thought……Page 21
The ‘evolution of the problem of order’……Page 23
Order, sovereignty and modernity……Page 26
International relations theory and world order……Page 30
Contemporary International Relations theory in contest……Page 33
Contemporary international theory and the problem of order……Page 38
The argument of the book……Page 42
Notes……Page 45
1 Balance……Page 57
Origins……Page 59
Framework……Page 61
Waltz’ theory……Page 65
The inevitability of the balance of power……Page 67
The developing neo-realist agenda……Page 68
Neo-realism, order and balance……Page 69
Buzan and Little: theory meets history……Page 70
Spegele: evaluative political realism……Page 74
Murray: pragmatic Augustinianism……Page 75
Realism, balance and order: an interrogation……Page 77
Notes……Page 83
2 Society……Page 92
International society and international relations……Page 93
International society: a critique……Page 96
‘Constructivist’ theory……Page 101
Constructivist accounts of society and order……Page 103
International order versus world order; towards a critical—or ‘constructivist’—international society?……Page 107
Conclusion: beyond international society?……Page 112
Notes……Page 114
3 Institutions……Page 122
Liberal politics, liberal institutions and liberal order……Page 123
Constitutional liberalism……Page 125
Cognitive liberalism……Page 126
Institutionalism, cosmopolitanism and the forms of liberal ‘order’……Page 127
Aron’s liberalism……Page 129
Aron and international relations……Page 131
Aron and order……Page 132
The liberal democratic peace……Page 134
The thesis stated……Page 135
Some redefinitions……Page 138
The ideology of the status quo?……Page 140
The liberal democratic state as hegemon: a justification?……Page 143
Peace, hegemony and liberal international theory……Page 146
Liberal (and neo-liberal) institutionalism……Page 149
Critique……Page 152
Conclusion……Page 153
Notes……Page 154
4 Emancipation……Page 164
The critical turn in twentieth-century thought……Page 165
The Frankfurt school and critical theory……Page 168
Feminist critique and critical theory……Page 170
Emancipation and critical theory in international relations……Page 171
The ‘achievements of critical theory’?……Page 172
Historical materialism……Page 176
‘Gramscian’ IR theory……Page 179
Negative dialectic?……Page 180
Emancipation, critique and ambiguity……Page 183
Conclusion: strategic ‘emancipation’, ‘tactical ethics’ and world order……Page 184
Notes……Page 187
Deconstruction, post-structuralism and political criticism in IR theory……Page 195
Post-Nietzschean thought and International Relations……Page 197
Post-structural political criticism and the problem of order……Page 202
Elshtain: the limits of/to order……Page 203
The limits of political criticism……Page 206
Notes……Page 207
From IR theory to international political theory……Page 212
International political theory and naturalistic social science……Page 216
From international political theory to cosmopolitan political theory? The ‘order of ends’……Page 221
Global ‘order’ and cosmopolitan ‘ends’……Page 223
Notes……Page 229
Select bibliography……Page 232
Index……Page 249