International Relations Theories

393 Pages·2013·3.105 MB·English

by  Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, Steve Smith

International Relations Theories
New to this edition
● U pdated chapters and case studies refl ect new developments in world politics.
● A new chapter on critical theory expands coverage of a key school of thought.
International
Relations Theories
Discipline and Diversity
THIRD EDITION
Edited by
Tim Dunne
,
Milja Kurki, and

Steve Smith

1
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Oxford University Press 2013
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First edition published 2007
Second edition published 2010
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without
the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly
permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside
the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press,
at the address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 978-0-19-969601-7
Printed in Italy by
L.E.G.O. S.p.A—Lavis TN
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Preface
Welcome to the third edition of I nternational Relations Theories . The responses to the fi rst
two editions have been overwhelmingly positive and so we have kept changes to this new
edition to a minimum. We cover the same theoretical ground as in the previous edition
except for one major change. In light of the fact that there has been some demand for a
detailed run-through of the critical theoretical literature, we decided to devote an entire
chapter to this important theoretical orientation in the discipline. The new chapter
contribution on critical theory is written by Steven C. Roach.
All the chapters have been updated to refl ect recently published work and the cases have
been revisited to include considerations of new developments in world politics.
Rationale for the book
Underpinning the ethos of the book are a number of thematics about theory and the
nature of the discipline of International Relations (IR). When using this term, we are
following the important convention that distinguishes between capital IR denoting the
academic study of International Relations, and lower-case international relations which is
shorthand for the object of the discipline’s investigations (the actors, interests, institutions,
and identities on a global scale). This distinction enables us to examine the sociology of
knowledge of IR as a discipline: how and when it became a distinct subject, what kinds of
topics get taught, where the subject is studied, what kinds of research get funded. If we
were to do away with the distinction, we would end up assuming that there is a direct read-
across from the discipline to the interactions that constitute the real world of international
relations.
What thematics, then, underpin this book? We highlight seven as follows:

1. Theory is the discipline’s centre of gravity. Academic IR is a broad church. It includes a
number of very active sub-fi elds, many of which are motivated by applied agendas. We
would argue that the centre of gravity of the fi eld is IR theory (a point made by Ole W æ ver
in the concluding chapter). It is no coincidence that histories of the discipline tend to map
directly onto the major theoretical contestations or debates.
2. Theory helps us to explain the world of international relations. All contributors agree
that theory is central to explaining the dynamics of world politics, whether one is interested
in regionalism, identity, security, or foreign policy. To put it more graphically, there is no hid-
ing place from theory; there is no alternative but to engage with issues concerning causation,
interpretation, judgement, and critique. The introduction and the opening chapter deal at
some length with what theory is, how it is interpreted differently, and what is at stake in
applying theory to the world.
vi PREFACE
3. Theoretical diversity is to be valued. All books on IR theory include a variety of dif-
ferent theoretical positions, particularly the historically dominant traditions of realism,
liberalism, and Marxism: latterly, it is commonplace, especially in US-based scholarship, to
include constructivism in the mix. We go much further in terms of defending diversity. To
these four we have added the English school (resurgent in the last two decades), feminism,
critical theory and poststructuralism (powerful critical voices since the 1980s), and two
relatively recent theories in the form of postcolonialism and green theory. The order of the
chapters proceeds along a continuum, from established at the beginning of the book to the
newer theories at the end. This does not mean, however, that we believe the established
traditions ought to be discounted for being ‘old’: indeed, the fact that we allocate two
chapters to realism and neorealism, and liberalism and neoliberalism, underscores the
importance we attach to these two rich theoretical perspectives as well as recognizing the
presence of a signifi cant fault-line within each.
4. Theoretical diversity is contested. Related to the above, we are aware of the fact
that the positive value we attach to theoretical diversity is not universally shared. Many
established scholars think that the core of the discipline—the focus on inter-state dynam-
ics of confl ict and cooperation—is being undermined. We disagree. We think more is
better, and that theoretical pluralism not only enables old issues to be addressed in new
ways, but also opens up new agendas which speak more directly to changing threats and
potentialities. As Steve Smith shows in his introduction, inside the thick walls of the acad-
emy, this debate has generated a great deal of anxiety. Those committed to a particularly
narrow concept of theory as a set of propositions formulated as testable hypotheses have
unnecessarily sought to d iscipline diversity.
5. The limits to theoretical diversity. The book does not have a clear answer to the ques-
tion whether there are limits to theoretical diversity. On the one hand, the arguments we
advance for letting new voices be heard must be extended into the future. Yet on the other,
we agree with Ole W æ ver that theoretical innovation within existing perspectives is more
likely (hence the proliferation of different ‘wings’ within each overarching theory, discussed
in the chapters themselves).
6. Choosing between theories. Those who advocate theoretical diversity need to con-
front the question—often posed by students—how to decide between them. The introduc-
tion goes into this issue in some detail. At this stage we remind our readers that each
contributor is defending his or her particularly theory. As Milja Kurki and Colin Wight put it
in the fi rst chapter, it is important that we remember theorists are ‘selling’ their ideas. They
may not always admit to the weaknesses in their own position, which is why it is important
for ‘buyers’ to read the alternatives.
7. Diversity and the reinvention of the discipline. The penultimate chapter by Colin
Hay differs from the previous fourteen chapters in that it is not ‘selling’ a particular IR
theory in the same sense as the others. Instead, the reader will fi nd an analysis of the
impact globalization is having on mainstream IR theories such as realism. Rather than
concluding that changes in global politics have brought the legitimacy of the entire disci-
pline into question, both Hay in Chapter 15 and Wæ v er in Chapter 16 recognize that there
are powerful structures at work which will ensure the ongoing resilience of International
Relations.
PREFACE vii
How to use the book
We anticipate that students will read the book in different ways, and that course tutors will
recommend the book for different purposes. With some certainty, we can predict that all IR
theory courses will cover s ome of the ground contained in the volume. It is equally certain
that only a few IR theory courses will cover all of the same ground.
The book has been compiled in such a way that tutors and students can read chapters as
though they are free-standing. However, for those courses that follow more closely the pro-
gression established throughout, we anticipate that there will be a pay-off in terms of cumu-
lative learning. We think this is particularly true in the case of the introduction and the two
opening chapters which cover contextual issues to do with the relationship between IR
theory, and the social sciences, and between IR theory and ethical inquiry. Furthermore,
many similar themes are interwoven through various chapters—understanding construc-
tivism is going to help the reader to comprehend what is meant by feminist constructivism
in a later chapter.
Each chapter has followed the same format, and incorporates many of the learning aids
which have proved to be highly successful in companion volumes such as Baylis, Smith, and
Owens (eds.), G lobalization of World Politics, also published by Oxford University Press and in
its fi fth edition.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kirsty Reade our editor at Oxford University Press, and our previous
editors Ruth Anderson and Nicki Sneath. Throughout the six-year lifespan of the book and
its two previous editions they have been extremely positive about the book and their input
has been invaluable. We would also like to thank Jodie Hobbs, an editorial assistant with the
fi rst edition, and Madeleine Fagan who helped us compile a consolidated bibliography and
the glossary for the second edition.
Our fi nal debt is to our students. It would be unthinkable to be involved in a project of this
kind without the shared experience of talking about theory to excited (and sometimes frus-
trated) students. In a very particular sense, the three editors directly shared this experience in
that Steve taught both Tim and Milja; the former at the University of East Anglia in the late
1980s and the latter at Aberystwyth in the early 2000s. This book will have succeeded if it can
stimulate the minds of the next generation to engage critically with the ever-changing disci-
pline of International Relations.
Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, Steve Smith
May 2012
Brief Contents

Preface v
Acknowledgements v iii
Detailed Contents x i
About the Contributors x vii
Guided Tour of Learning Features x x
Guided Tour of the Online Resource Centre x xii
Introduction: Diversity and Disciplinarity in International
Relations Theory 1
Steve Smith
1 International Relations and Social Science 1 4
Milja Kurki and Colin Wight
2 Normative International Relations Theory 3 6
Toni Erskine
3 Classical Realism 5 9
Richard Ned Lebow
4 Structural Realism 7 7
John J. Mearsheimer
5 Liberalism 9 4
Bruce Russett
6 Neoliberalism 1 14
Jennifer Sterling-Folker
7 The English School 132
Tim Dunne
8 Marxism 153
Mark Rupert
9 Critical Theory 1 71
Steven C. Roach
1 0 Constructivism 1 87
K. M. Fierke
1 1 Feminism 205
J. Ann Tickner and Laura Sjoberg
1 2 Poststructuralism 2 23
David Campbell