International relations, the academic discipline in which I have been trained, is an odd one. In part, as a relatively new field of scholarly inquiry--the first department having been established at the University of Aberystwyth in 1919--there is a general insecurity about what international relations should examine and how it should do so. Ironically, the claim that international relations is primarily about the material power dynamics that shape relations amongst states is often presented with supreme confidence by those who wish to delineate--and then gate-keep--the borders of the discipline.
Peer Schouten, a doctoral candidate in Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg, has been exploring and documenting these tensions through Theory Talks, a terrific blog where he interviews a range of scholars whose work could be located in the field of international relations.
There are few things that I find really interesting about this archive. First, apart from a few notable exceptions, nearly all of these scholars are completely unprepared to problematize or rethink what international relations might be, what it 'ought' to be, and its inextricable connections to broader dynamics of power.
Second, it is amazing to see how narrowly defined the spectrum of scholarly pluralism is for many of these folks, even as they speak of the importance of diversity to the field. In some cases, work from 'outside' the discipline is to be embraced only in so far as it confirms the shared assumptions and/or foundations of 'international relations' while offering piecemeal revisions to dominant currents of thought.
Finally, it is very troubling to see how the focus of many of these scholars is restricted to politics (i.e., institutions, formal political procedures, and policies) at the expense of the realm of the political (i.e., the broader relations of power that shape politics, our understandings of it, and what we think may be possible to achieve). Thus, the inability and/or unwillingness to confront the multiple dimensions of power, and the privileges that it offers, alienates much work in international relations from the most important questions of our time while offering the same old tired solutions to issues that are symptomatic of deeper and longer-standing dynamics.
Photo credit: Ma.Ka
