Perspectives on International Political Theory in Europe (Trends in European IR Theory)

This book offers a timely exploration of the still burgeoning field of International Political Theory (IPT). IPT is approached in this volume not merely as a subfield at the margins of the discipline of International Relations (IR) but rather as a key dimension of theorising international relations that challenges disciplinary, theoretical, methodological, and geographical boundaries and inseminates other theoretical IR traditions. Chapters in this volume approach IPT as a theoretical tradition that emphasises and interrogates the philosophical, historical, ethical, normative, institutional, and aesthetic dimensions of international relations and world politics. In so doing, they explore IPT as a European theoretical tradition to stress that, paradoxically, it is only by provincializing Europe and its intellectual traditions that one may finally appreciate what is truly universal in them. This is a refreshingly different take on IPT sure to be of interest to students and scholars of IPT, IR and political theory. Vassilios Paipais is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, UK. Contents Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: International Political Theory as a European Theoretical Tradition International Political Theory: A Key Dimension of Theorising International Relations The Question of ‘Europeanness’ Outline of the Chapters References 2 The European Image of the World as a Cosmos: Notes Towards an Archaeology Introduction Method The Emergence of the True World The True World in Plotinus and Augustine Nietzsche’s Genealogy of the True World The Eternal Return of the Same Conclusion References 3 Reason of State in European International Thought Machiavelli and the Art of the State Stoicism, Scepticism, and Tacitism: The New Humanism in the Context of Confessional Conflict Counter-Reformation and Anti-Machiavellian Reason of State: On Botero Sovereignty and Reason of State in Natural Jurisprudence: Hobbes and Pufendorf Modern Receptions of Reason of State: Weber and Meinecke Conclusion References 4 Aesthetic Approaches to International Political Theory Introduction IPT from an Aesthetic Perspective Sites of Contribution Visions of Politics References 5 Democratic Peace as a Horizon of Expectation: Liberalism and Pluralism Revisited Introduction Revisiting Pluralism and Liberalism Early Twentieth-Century Pluralism Pluralism and Liberal Democratic Peace Theory Conclusion References 6 Practice Approaches in International Political Theory Prologue, or How the Postman Always Rings Twice The Practice Turn’s Normative Road Not Taken The Normativity of Practices in Contemporary Social Theory From Competence to ‘Ethical Competence’ International Political Theory as Agora Brown’s Phronetic International Political Theory Frost and Lechner’s Wittgensteinian Approach to International Practices Dewey’s ‘Situation Ethics’ and Ralph’s Adaptation of IR Constructivism Epilogue References 7 Justice and Injustice in International Political Theory Liberal Theories of Justice Idealist Theories Non-relational Theories Distributive Justice A Positive Theory The Turn to Injustice in International Political Theory Action-Related Injustice Structural Injustice Political Injustice In Defence of the Turn to Injustice Conclusion References 8 European International Political Theory as a New Critical Theory of World Politics: The Instructive Case of Jean Baudrillard Baudrillard and the Critical Theories of International Relations From Domination to Hegemony or a Pataphysical Theory of World Politics The Californication of Power: America as Original Modernity From Orgy to Masquerade Ball or from Cannibalism to Carnivalism Outro: The Agony of Global, Universal, and the Spectre of Europe Europe and the End of Western Seduction References Index