International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity

Chapter 2: International Relations as Political Theory

By Chris Brown

Learning objectives
After this lecture you should be able to: Appreciate the role of International Political Theory (IPT) in IR Understand the key questions and themes that concern IPT Put political theory debates into the context of international politics

International Political Theory

Political theory asks questions such as
how should we live in political community? what forms of rule best? what is basis of political obligation? what is involved in behaving justly to one another?

When these questions are asked international relations are always involved. Thus, International Political Theory is a key feature in both Political Theory and International Relations theory.

Why has it been ignored?

The role of IPT has been ignored in IR theory because of the dominance of realism, which sees power and interests as central and normative issues as irrelevant. However, the state-centric view of international relations has been attacked recently both in IR and in political theory, precipitating the beginning of International Political Theory.

Reading the classics

In reading the classics of political theory we need to keep in mind that interpreting traditions is a complex and contested matter. It is important to understand the context of classic texts. There are three themes that unite classic and more modern writings in political theory: inside/outside, universal/particular and system/society.

Inside/outside, universal/particular
In all political arrangements a distinction is made between insiders and outsiders. Evaluating the normative implications of insider/outsider status raises the question: is frame of political obligation local or universalist?

For example, in ancient Greece loyalties lay within the city states, whereas during the Christian Middle Ages, St. Augustine espoused the view that, besides the city, one also owed loyalty to the City of God uniting all humans. Universalist elements in Christian thinkers lead to the development of the notion of Just War.

Rise of Westphalian system

Renaissance and crusades challenged earlier notions of inside and outside. New relationships between inside and outside arose between the 15th and the mid 17th centuries: one defined by the territorial sovereign state. War too became rationalised and humanised. It became the act of the state and the principles of Just War became challenged in important respects. This order is now global.

System/society, communitarianism/cosmopolitanism
Modern neorealists argue that relations of territorial sovereign states constitute an anarchic self-help system. English School theorists argue that there is an international society, an association of states based on the existence of common rules.

Kant and Hegel are important thinkers that have influenced understandings of the state in IPT. Kant: to achieve peace, states must be republican and must support a cosmopolitan hospitality. Hegel: war can be a positive thing bringing communities together.

European international society

Classically the notion of international society was explicitly European encompassing only states considered European. Only with the establishment of UN in 1945 was the principle of nonintervention spread to other states.

Case study: Justice in international politics

Campaigns against global injustice raise interesting questions for IPT Realists reject principles of justice beyond state borders but others advocate international justice between states or global distributive justice between individuals

Case study continued

Arguments in IPT on justice. 1) Rawls rejected principles of justice beyond state borders 2) Beitz and Pogge have argued for principles of justice beyond the state borders. 3) Others have advocated Kantian cosmopolitan principles globally. In evaluating the case for international and global justice, we should not forget the benefits of the current system based on political defence of pluralism.

Conclusion
There are three key themes that thinkers have positions on: inside/outside, universalism/particularism and system/society and there are two families of disposition towards them: cosmopolitan and communitarian. Whatever the potential effects of globalisation, it is important to consider international relations in reference to the themes and debates set out by the IPT.