Critical Theory of International Politics: Complementarity, Justice, and Governance

ISBN-13: 9780415774840 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 184 str.

Steven C. Roach

Opis

Critical international theory encompasses several distinct, radical approaches that focus on identity, difference, hegemonic power, and order. As an applied theory, critical international theory draws on critical social theories to shed light on international processes and global transformations. While this approach has led to increasing interest in formulating an empirically relevant critical international theory, it has also revealed the difficulties of applying critical theory to international politics. What are these difficulties and problems? And how can we move beyond them? This book addresses these questions by investigating the intellectual currents and key debates of critical theory, from Kant and Hegel to Habermas and Derrida, and the recent work of critical international theory, including Robert Cox and Andrew Linklater. By drawing on these debates, the book formulates an original theory of complementarity that brings together critical theory and critical international theory. It argues that complementarity-a governing principle in international law and politics-offers a conceptual framework for working toward two goals: engaging the changing contexts and forms of resistance and redressing some of the difficulties of applying critical theory to international relations. In adopting three critical perspectives on complementarity to analyze the evolving social and political contexts of global justice, this book provides an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars interested in the application of critical theory to international relations.

In recent years, a growing number of international relations (IR) scholars and students have drawn on critical theory to shed new light on global transformation(s). This book provides the first detailed account for students on the origins of critical theory and explains how it has developed and influenced international relations. Written to make these complex ideas accessible to all, Critical Theory of International Politics:

• outlines the origins of critical theory in Marx and post-Marxist thinkers
• details the development of the Frankfurt School and the influential work of Adorno, Benjamin and Marcuse
• explains how Habermas, Gramsci and Foucault came to have a lasting impact on international relations
• delineates the recent work of critical IR scholars such as Robert W. Cox, Rob Walker, James Der Derian, Christine Sylvester, Richard Ashley and Andrew Linklater.

Spis treści

1. Critical Theory, Immanent Critique, and the Problem of the International  Part 1: Critical Theory Past and Present: Four Currents of Immanent Critique  2. Dialectics, Historical Materialism, and Repression  3. The Frankfurt School: The Rise of Radical Immanence and Communicative Action Theory  Part 2: Critical International Theory: Perspectives on Complementarity  4. Communicative Rationality, Recognition, and the Dual Complementarity of the International Criminal Court  5. Social Ontology: From Critical Realism to the Quantum Challenge  6. Justice, Negative Dialectics and Immanent Complementarity  7. Complementarity Envisaged: Self-Legitimization and the Global Social Imaginary

O autorze

Steven C. Roach is Assistant Professor of International Politics at the University of South Florida. Among his books are Governance, Order, and the International Criminal Court (2009), Critical Theory and International Relations: A Reader (2008), International Relations: The Key Concepts (2008) and Politicizing the International Criminal Court (2006).