Postcolonial Theory and the Critique of International Relations

Seth, Sanjay. 2011. Postcolonial Theory and the Critique of International Relations. Millennium, 40(1), pp. 167-183. ISSN 0305-8298 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This article in three parts offers the beginnings of a postcolonial critique of mainstream International Relations (IR). The first part argues that IR, where it has been interested in history at all, has misdescribed the origins and character of the contemporary international order, and that an accurate understanding of the ‘expansion of the international system’ requires attention to its colonial origins. The second part suggests that IR is deeply Eurocentric, not only in its historical account of the emergence of the modern international order, but also in its account(s) of the nature and functioning of this order. The human sciences are heirs to a tradition of knowledge which defines knowledge as a relation between a cognising, representing subject and an object, such that knowledge is always ‘of’ something out there, which exists independently of its apprehension. The third part of the article suggests that knowledges serve to constitute that which they purport to merely cognise or represent, and that IR theory serves to naturalise that which is historically produced.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829811412325

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Politics
Research Office > REF2014

Dates:

DateEvent
1 September 2011Published

Item ID:

6362

Date Deposited:

28 Dec 2011 17:24

Last Modified:

30 Jun 2017 12:30

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/6362

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