Justice, Community and Dialogue in International Relations (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Series Number 79)

Shapcott investigates the question of justice in a culturally diverse world, asking if it is possible to conceive of a universal or cosmopolitan community in which justice to difference is achieved. Justice to difference is possible, according to Shapcott, by recognising the particular manner in which different humans identify themselves. Such recognition is most successfully accomplished through acts of communication, and in particular, conversation. The accounts of understanding developed by H. G. Gadamer provide a valuable way forward in this field. The philosophical hermeneutic account of conversation allows for the development of a level of cosmopolitan solidarity that is both 'thin' and universal, and which helps to provide a more just resolution of the tension between the values of community and difference. Students and scholars of international relations, international ethics and philosophy will be interested in this original study. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 13 The meaning of community 15 What this book does and does not do 16 The moral problematique of international relations and the problem of community 17 Justice as recognition of difference 21 Self/other relations in the conquest of America: annihilation, assimilation, coexistence and communication 26 Discovery and conquest 28 Assimilation 30 Equality 31 Coexistence 34 Communication 36 Chapter structure 38 1 Beyond the cosmopolitan/communitarian divide 42 The cosmopolitan/communitarian divide in international relations theory 46 Liberal–cosmopolitanism: Beitz 48 Communitarianism 54 Difference and exclusion in Walzer 58 Beyond the cosmopolitan/communitarian divide 60 Conclusion 63 2 Community and communication in interpretive theories of international relations 65 Constitutive theory 66 Poststructuralist international relations theory 73 Poststructuralist international relations and the problem of community. 75 Deterritorialised ethics: freedom, democracy and responsibility 79 The ethics of responsibility 85 Poststructuralism and the cosmopolitan/communitarian divide 89 Critical theory 92 Discourse ethics and the cosmopolitan project 95 Discourse ethics and post-Westphalian communities 103 Conclusion 104 3 Emancipation and legislation: the boundaries of conversation in poststructuralism and the critical theory of IR 107 Emancipation and legislation: reason, agency and practice in critical theory and poststructuralist IR 108 Agency and practice in poststructuralism 110 Discourse ethics: universality, dialogue and difference 117 Universalisation and the right versus the good 118 Agency and inclusion in discourse ethics 128 Discourse ethics and emancipation 136 Conclusion 141 4 Philosophical hermeneutics: understanding, practical reasoning and human solidarity 142 The hermeneutic claim to universality: understanding as mode of being-in the-world 145 The dialogic model of understanding: the fusion of horizons 154 Socratic conversation 162 Phronesis 164 Philosophical hermeneutics as practical philosophy: understanding and solidarity 169 The model of conversation in discourse ethics and philosophical hermeneutics 173 Reason, understanding and agency in philosophical hermeneutics 174 Conclusion 190 5 Philosophical hermeneutics and its critics 192 Philosophical hermeneutics and critical theory 193 Philosophical hermeneutics and deconstruction 200 The task of reciprocal illumination 207 Conversation and dialogue revisited 212 Conclusion 217 6 Towards a thin cosmopolitanism 221 Opening and enhancing communication 222 Beyond international society 226 A variegated cosmopolitanism 231 Human rights and dialogue 236 Conclusion 245 Bibliography 251 Index 260

This book is concerned with the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. The author asks whether cultural diversity presents an obstacle to the development of ethical codes which could be acceptable to cultures around the world. He argues that the human capacity to engage in conversation and the ability to understand each other despite linguistic and cultural differences can provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitian moral community. Conversation can be a moral act, in which participants treat each other as equals despite their differences.

Shapcott considers the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. Conversation, and our ability to understand each other despite differences, provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitan, moral community. Students and scholars of international relations, politics and philosophy will be interested in this original study