The New Twenty Years' Crisis: A Critique of International Relations, 1999-2019

175 Pages·31.69 MB·English

by  Philip Cunliffe

The New Twenty Years’ Crisis

The New Twenty Years’ Crisis
A Critique of International Relations,
1999–2019
PHILIP CUNLIFFE
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston · London · Chicago
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2020
ISBN 978-0-2280-0101-0 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0102-7 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0240-6 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0241-3 (ePUB)
Legal deposit third quarter 2020
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient
forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed
chlorine free

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council
for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada
de son soutien.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The new twenty years’ crisis : a critique of
international relations, 1999–2019 / Philip Cunliffe.
Names: Cunliffe, Philip, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200213407 | Canadiana
(ebook) 20200213415 | ISBN 9780228001010 (cloth) |
ISBN 9780228001027 (paper) | ISBN 9780228002406
(ePDF) | ISBN 9780228002413 (ePUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Carr, Edward Hallett, 1892–1982. Twenty
years’ crisis, 1919–1939. | LCSH: International relations—
Philosophy. | LCSH: World politics—21st century. | LCSH:
Liberalism. | LCSH: Utopia.
Classification: LCC JZ1305 .C86 2020 | DDC 327.101—dc23
Set in 9.5/13.5 Baskerville 10 Pro with Berthold Bodoni
Book design & typesetting by Garet Markvoort, zijn digital
For Mio

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Willing the End 3
1 Carr’s Crisis and Ours, 1919–1939/1999–2019 32
2 Make IR Critical Again 60
3 Washed Up on the Shores of Eutopia 89
Conclusion: Beyond the Twenty Years’ Crisis 118
Notes 129
Index 149

Preface and
Acknowledgments
This book argues that we have been through a twenty
years’ crisis in which we have seen the degradation of
liberal international order. We have now come through
to the other side of that crisis, yet without being able to
recognise our new political surroundings or identify the
shape of a nascent new order. Instead, we remain en-
snared in outmoded ideas, still unable to think politically
as a result of inherited liberal dogma. This book seeks to
reboot our thinking about international politics by cri-
tiquing prevailing ideas in International Relations (IR),
the academic study of international politics.
I realised just how much my discipline of IR was in
trouble, a few years back, while dawdling in an airport
lounge en route from a major academic convention. I was