Justice, community, and dialogue in international relations

This book is concerned with the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. The author asks whether cultural diversity presents an obstacle to the development of ethical codes which could be acceptable to cultures around the world. He argues that the human capacity to engage in conversation and the ability to understand each other despite linguistic and cultural differences can provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitan moral community. Conversation can be a moral act, in which participants treat each other as equals despite their differences.

The national interest in international relations theory

The concept of the 'national interest' is an ever-present feature of contemporary diplomatic discourse, and has been widely analysed by historians and political scientists. However, there has not been a systematic investigation of the term from the range of theoretical perspectives which comprise the discipline of International Relations. This book fills this gap by explaining how the term is variously understood by realist, Marxist, anarchist, liberal rationalist (English School) and constructivist theories of International Relations. It is argued that far from having a clear and unambiguous meaning, 'the national interest' is a problematic term which is largely devoid of substantive content. While realists traditionally, and constructivists more recently, claim that 'the national interest' is a key explanatory tool in the analysis and understanding of contemporary foreign policy.
Scott Burchill argues that beyond the narrow aspect of security policy, the national interest has little residual value as an insight into the motivations of state policy in the external realm.

Theories of international relations

The substantially revised second edition of this widely-used text provides a broad-ranging introduction to the main theoretical approaches to the study of International Relations. The introduction focuses on the nature of theory in the study of global politics and the discipline's internal debates. The following nine substantially revised and updated chapters, including an entirely new one on Constructivism, provide thorough examinations of each of the major traditional and more recent approaches currently prevailing in the discipline.

Theories of international relations

This collection of essays demonstrates the continuing importance of the work of Michael Polanyi for the understanding, not only of the great events of the 20th century, but also of the problems that face us in the 21st century. Polanyi moved liberalism away from a negative, sceptical and rationalist basis towards an acceptance of trust, tradition and faith in transcendent values. His conception of the free society is not one merely of doing as one pleases nor vacuously 'open', but one of individual and communal self-dedication to those values and ideals.These essays, authored by a distinguished international and interdisciplinary panel of invited contributors, examine Polanyi's specific insights in the theory of knowledge, the nature and source of social order and the philosophy of economics and science and draw relevant comparisons between Polanyi and related thinkers such as Popper, Hayek and Mises. This book shows the sources of Polanyi's ideas and his distinctive contribution to philosophy generally, to social and political thought and to economics.

National interest in the theory of international relations

The concept of "the national interest" has been widely analysed by historians and political scientists. However, there has not been a systematic investigation of the term from the range of theoretical perspectives which comprise the discipline of International Relations. This dissertation fills this gap by examining how the term is variously understood by realist, Marxist, anarchist, liberal, rationalist and constructivist theories of International Relations. It is argued that far from having a clear and unambiguous meaning, "the national interest" is a problematic term which is largely devoid of substantive content.

Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War : interpretations and implications for international relations theory

By arguing that international relations scholarship fails to explain adequately the end of the Cold War because it gives insufficient consideration to the role performed by Mikhail Gorbachev, the thesis makes a case for the systematic examination of the part played by individual political actors in international affairs.

Understanding Chinese identity in international relations : a critique of Western approaches.

In international relations in the West, two main approaches to Chinese identity have emerged: the capability and the culture approaches. Though each takes a different view of China, they share common epistemological ground. positivism. This paper provides an overview of these two influential schools of thought and attempts to challenge their positivistic and ethnocentric assumptions about the identities of both China and the West. While they endeavour to make sense of China, particularly in the post-Cold War era, they fail to understand identity as a form of representation. From a critical perspective, both ’China’ and the ‘West’ are social constructs: each in part constitutes the other. The relationship between them is always relational and fluid. Posing Chinese identity in positivist terms is not only misleading analytically, but potentially dangerous in practice. It is important, therefore, that alternative critical approaches to the complexities of Chinese identity be further explored.

Heritage diplomacy: entangled materialities of international relations

The paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy in order to critically examine the links between conservation, cultural aid and hard power, and the dance between nationalism and internationalism. Three themes - venues, cooperation, and borders - orient the discussion, opening lines of enquiry previously ignored by scholars in a variety of fields concerning the entanglements between the past and the enterprise of preserving its material culture, and our unfolding histories of globalization and international affairs.

The War in Iraq: the illusion of international law? Where to now?

Examines the legality of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq. Relevance of the international law framework; Advantages and danger of humanitarian intervention principle; Implications of the war for the future of international law.

Speed, international security, and "New War" coverage in cyberspace

Mass media representations foster a view that the "War on Terror" is taking place both everywhere and nowhere, presenting Western governments with an opportunity to mobilize public support in new and ubiquitous ways. Starting with Virilio's critique of technology, speed, and de-territorialization, this article discusses the ways in which mass support is mobilized by the state in conventional pursuit of geopolitical objectives. Drawing on  contemporary international relations theory, the authors introduce the concept of "securitization" and discuss how war coverage in cyberspace has been used to securitize international threats, such as "global terrorism," to justify state intervention, including war. It is concluded that one of the paradoxes of war coverage in cyberspace is that whereas cyber-technologies should democratize the politics of war by liberating access to information about war, the state has coopted information and communication technologies to facilitate new forms of mass mobilization for war itself.