The Anti-Pelagian Imagination in Political Theory and International Relations: Dealing in Darkness

189 Pages·2017·0.898 MB·English

by  Nicholas Rengger

THE ANTI-PELAGIAN IMAGINATION
IN POLITICAL THEORY AND
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
This volume draws together some of the key works of Nicholas Rengger, focusing
on the theme of the ‘anti-Pelagian imagination’ in political theory and international
relations.
Rengger frames the collection with a detailed introduction that sketches out this
‘imagination’, its origins and character, and puts the chapters that follow into context
with the work of other theorists, including Bull, Connolly, Gray, Strauss, Elshtain
and Kant. The volume concludes with an epilogue contrasting two different ways of
reading this sensibility and offering reasons for supposing one is preferable to the
other.
Updating and expanding on ideas from work over the course of the last sixteen
years, this collection will be of great interest to students and scholars of interna-
tional relations theory, political thought and political philosophy.
Nicholas Rengger is Professor of Political Theory and International Relations at
St Andrews and a member of the Academia Europaea. He has held visiting appoint-
ments at Oxford, LSE and the University of Southern California and from 2011–14
was a Global Ethics Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International
Affairs, New York.
‘This wide ranging and learned work will establish Nicholas Rengger as one of the
most impressive writers on international relations today.’
Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of
Political Science, Yale University, USA
‘In open and engaging prose, Rengger offers a thorough-going study of some of
the most important books that have shaped the debate on political theory and
international relations. It displays a formidable intellectual grasp and the kind of
moral conviction rarely found in today’s academic discourse. It is a striking and
sometimes dazzling commentary on what the author calls “modern anti-Pelagianism”,
a lens through he looks at how writers as diverse as John Gray and Jean Bethke
Elshtein have interrogated the troubles and discontents of our day.’
Christopher Coker, Professor, London
School of Economics, UK
‘International theory has needed regular jolts of history and philosophy to sustain
its vitality: by proposing a new typology of “anti-Pelagian” thought, Nicholas
Rengger has given the field another welcome shot in the arm. His wide-ranging
collection of essays has something for almost everyone; they will not all agree with
the argument, but he does provide substantial material for productive debate.’
David Armitage, Harvard University, USA
THE ANTI-PELAGIAN
IMAGINATION IN
POLITICAL THEORY
AND INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
Dealing in Darkness

Nicholas Rengger
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Nicholas Rengger
The right of Nicholas Rengger to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Rengger, N. J. (Nicholas J.), author.
Title: The anti-Pelagian imagination in political theory and international
relations: dealing in darkness/Nicholas Rengger.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016046381 | ISBN 9780415704137 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780415704144 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780203762295 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Political science–Philosophy. | International
relations–Philosophy. | Pelagianism.
Classification: LCC JA71.R4448 2017 | DDC 320.01–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016046381
ISBN: 978-0-415-70413-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-70414-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-76229-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
This book is dedicated to my two wonderful daughters – Corinna
Lucy and Natalie Iona. Since they grew up while I was writing these
papers, it seems only fair. Naturally, they got rather fed up with the
distraction. When I should have been discussing anime, D octor Who,
the finer points of the clàrsach, Merlin , violins, cosplay and ukuleles,
I was thinking about this stuff (oh, and listening to classical music, of all
things!). So, thanks for tolerating me – and making my life so much
better, every day!

This book is for you.

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction: dealing in darkness? Varieties of modern
anti-Pelagianism 1
2 Progress: Kant, Mendelssohn and the very idea 10
3 Bull: a double vision? 20
4 Remember the Aeneid ? (And beware Greek gifts) 35
5 Human rights: emancipation or incarceration 42
6 Dystopic liberalism and the international order: realism
tamed or liberalism betrayed? 64
7 Progress with Price? 80
8 Connolly: Nietzsche or Augustine? 88
9 Gray: the end(s) of progress? 98
10 Strauss: the impossibility of justice 111
viii Contents
11 Elshtain 1: anti-Pelagian or not? 121
12 Elshtain 2: violence and the two sovereigns 131
13 Post-secularism: metaphysical not political? 143
14 Epilogue: tragedy or scepticism? 156
Index 171
PREFACE
This book is a collection of essays and lectures all written over the last sixteen years
and, for the most part, previously published in various different essay collections and
scholarly journals. This is, as the late (and great) Brian Barry once remarked, a noto-
riously hit-or-miss way of disseminating one’s work, so I am glad to have the
opportunity to gather these essays together between one set of covers. The idea for
the collection came out of a couple of conversations I had – more years ago than
I now care to remember – with Craig Fowlie at Routledge. Craig had been the
editor of a previous book of mine and had also inaugurated a series of volumes
where scholars collected some of their more important or influential essays. I had
written an introduction to one such volume ( James Der Derian’s) and so was natu-
rally very flattered when Craig suggested I put together a similar volume. When
I reflected on it, however, I wasn’t sure I really wanted just to put together a selec-
tion of ‘greatest hits’ (assuming, that is, there were any in my case). I also decided
that I would not include in the collection any essays that had been important for
earlier books of mine (for example, the book on the just war tradition I published
in 2013 or the essays that fed into the earlier book on the problem of order that
Craig had commissioned and which was published in 2000), or essays from earlier
in my career that were concerned with, for example, aspects of the history of
political thought or international relations theory more generally. Nor did I want
to include any essays that were to be connected with the next two substantial writing
projects I had in mind.
However, I had been concerned for some time with exploring the various ways
in which sceptical, non-utopian and sometimes more pessimistic conceptions of
political theory and international relations (and, indeed, related ideas in, for example,
philosophy and theology) might be manifested, and those explorations, it seemed
to me, might make for a good collection – one at least united around a common
theme. And thus the idea for the present book was born.