Going beyond Parochialism and Fragmentation in the Study of International Relations

151 Pages·2020·1.074 MB·English

by  Yong-Soo Eun

Going beyond Parochialism and
Fragmentation in the Study of
International Relations
International Relations (IR), as a discipline, is a Western-dominated enterprise.
This has led to calls to broaden the scope and vision of the discipline by embracing
a wider range of histories, experiences, and theoretical perspectives – particularly
those outside the Anglo-American core of the West. The ongoing ‘broadening
IR projects’ – be they ‘non-Western IR’, ‘post-Western IR’, or ‘Global IR’ – are
making contributions in this regard. However, some careful thinking is needed
here in that these attempts could also lead to a national or regional ‘inwardness’
that works to reproduce the very parochialism that is being challenged.
The main intellectual concerns of this edited volume are problematising
Western parochialism in IR, giving theoretical and epistemological substance to
pluralism in the field of IR based on both Western and non-Western thoughts
and experiences, and working out ways to move the discipline of IR one step
closer to a dialogic community. A key issue that cuts across all contributions in
the volume is to go beyond both parochialism and fragmentation in international
studies. In order to address the manifold and contested implications of pluralism
in in the field of IR, the volume draws on the wealth of experience and research
of prominent and emerging IR scholars whose contributions make up the work,
with a mixture of theoretical analysis and case studies.
This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in Global IR and
promoting dialogue in a pluralist IR.
Yong-Soo Eun is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies
at Hanyang University, South Korea, and Editor-in-Chief of the Routledge series
IR Theory and Practice in Asia. Yong-Soo is broadly interested in International
Relations (IR) theory, pluralism in social and international studies, emotion
studies in IR, and the international politics of the Asia-Pacific region. He is the
author of Pluralism and Engagement in the Discipline of International Relations
(2016) and the co-editor of Regionalizing Global Crises (2014). His work has
also been published in Review of International Studies, PS: Political Science and
Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and The Chinese Journal of International Politics,
among other venues.
IR Theory and Practice in Asia
This series will publish philosophical, theoretical, methodological and empirical
work by prominent scholars, as well as that of emerging scholars, concerned with
IR theory and practice in the context of Asia. It will engage with a wide range
of issues and questions ranging from meta-theoretical underpinnings of existing
Western-oriented IR theories to ways of theorising Asian histories and cultures.
What Is at Stake in Building “Non-Western” International Relations Theory?
Yong-Soo Eun
International Relations as a Discipline in Thailand
Theory and Sub-fields
Edited by Chanintira na Thalang, Soravis Jayanama and
Jittipat Poonkham
Rethinking Middle Powers in The Asian Century
New Theories, New Cases
Edited by Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Dorothée Vandamme,
David Walton and Thomas Wilkins
Critical International Relations Theories in East Asia
Relationality, Subjectivity, and Pragmatism
Edited by Kosuke Shimizu
Ontological Security and Status-Seeking
Thailand’s Proactive Behaviours during the Second World War
Peera Charoenvattananukul
Going beyond Parochialism and Fragmentation in the Study
of International Relations
Edited by Yong-Soo Eun
For the full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/IR-Theory-
and-Practice-in-Asia/book-series/IRTPA
Going beyond Parochialism
and Fragmentation in the
Study of International
Relations
Edited by Yong-Soo Eun
First published 2020
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
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Yong-Soo Eun; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Yong-Soo Eun to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the author for his individual chapters, has
been asserted 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
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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
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-06300-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16133-4 (ebk)
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We dedicate this book to the memory of our dear
friend, colleague, and collaborator LHM (Lily) Ling,
who very sadly passed away on October 1, 2018.

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
List of contributors x
Introduction 1
YONG-SOO EUN
1 Opening up the debate over ‘non-Western’ International
Relations 10
YONG-SOO EUN
2 When balance of power meets globalization 24
T.V. PAUL
3 Three-ness: healing world politics with epistemic compassion 40
L.H.M. LING
4 Relational ontology and the politics of boundary-making:
East Asian financial regionalism 57
YONG WOOK LEE
5 Bringing the outside in: the limits of theoretical
fragmentation and pluralism in IR theory 76
COLIN WIGHT
6 Globalising IR through dialogue 96
YONG-SOO EUN
7 Global emotion studies in IR: embracing non-Western voices 113
CHAEYOUNG YONG
Index 134
Acknowledgments
As with any academic discipline, International Relations (IR) is expected to reflect
what it studies, namely world politics. Since the end of the Cold War – more spe-
cifically, since the demise of the American unipolar ‘moment’ – the structure of
world power has become increasingly decentralised and dispersed, and multiple
forms and sources of agency in foreign affairs and international security have
emerged, especially in East Asia. This transformation has been labelled in various
ways, including a ‘shift from West to East’, a ‘G-Zero world’, a ‘multiplex world’,
a ‘return to geopolitics’, and the ‘revival of tribalism’. Whatever term one uses,
what is clear is that today’s world is no longer defined by the hegemony of any
single nation or value.
Does IR theory reflect this transformation and complexity? This was the key
question behind the 2016 Hanyang and Routledge International Studies Work-
shop held in Seoul where nine IR scholars, including myself, met to discuss
progress in IR theory and knowledge production in the discipline. This volume
arises from that workshop. Although a few of the papers presented there are not
included in the final manuscript, I (as the organiser of the workshop and editor of
this volume) would like to express my sincere thanks to all of the participants for
their intellectual contributions: Shaun Breslin (University of Warwick), T.V. Paul
(McGill University), Yaqing Qin (China Foreign Affairs University), L.H.M.
Ling (The New School), Tim Dunne (University of Queensland), Colin Wight
(University of Sydney), Yong Wook Lee (Korea University), and Cheng-Chwee
Kuik (National University of Malaysia). I also owe thanks to Chaeyoung Yong,
who, although she joined this collaborative enterprise later, has nonetheless made
a tremendous contribution to our endeavour.
I would also like to thank Simon Bates and ShengBin Tan at Routledge for
their great help, understanding, and support. I also acknowledge institutional
support from Hanyayng University (HY-201800000003094). In addition, dis-
cussions put forth in this volume draw heavily on contributors’ previous studies.
The first five chapters of the volume draw on five Special Section Articles pub-
lished in Politics (2019), Volume 39, Issue 1, and Chapter 6 draws on my work
previously published in The Pacific Review (2019), Volume 32, Issue 2.
Acknowledgments ix
This edited volume is dedicated to Lily Ling. She will be remembered as an
eminent scholar, an inspiring teacher, and a warm person. Her incredible insights
into alternative thinking and sincere compassion for others will keep her alive in
our conversation and efforts to create a positive force in a world where cynics
abound.