Critical theories Flashcards
emancipation
humanity gaining greater mastery over nature through the development of more sophisticated technology, and its use to the benefit of all
cartography objective?
maps can’t portray the world 100% as it is -> making maps involves choices
Traditional map = Mercator 1569
other maps:
- Map of Roger (al-Idrisi) 1154: distorted due to lack of knowledge + shaped according to interests of the time (trade routes)
- Gall-Peters projection: global pressure to change the map to better project the global south
the way places ar portrayed in maps matter in the perception of the area + people + power
knowledge and power are connected + knowledge isn’t always innocent
what is the objective of critical theories?
problematize the existing propositions of IR
criticize that main IR ideas/concepts leave out marginalized groups
which critical theories are there?
poststructuralism
feminism
postcolonialism
What type of theories are critical theories?
constitutive theories: they study the production of knowledge
- knowledge and power: if you have authority in the top tier knowledge institutions, what you see is seen as truth -> knowledge is power, but knowledge also makes power
criticism on critical theories
- Are they new IR theories, are they substantive or are they more critical attitudes towards existing IR assumptions?
- What is the ultimate objective: are they explanatory or critical?
- 30 years on, still at the margins of IR scholarship: limited impact on mainstream debate (this is changing)
- internal contradictions (there are some fixed concepts necessary to have debates/dialogues, to ensure that everyone is talking about the same thing)
- contradictions among the three approaches?
What do critical theories have in common?
- criticism of the production and understanding of IR
- underline that mainstream lenses only emphasize certain aspects and exclude and marginalize others
- identities and power relations are constructed and reproduced
- ruling hegemonic discourse?
Vantage point: we need to be aware of biases
- No truth or universal theory, no complete objectiveness
- no ready-made categories
- dominant understanding of IR both arbitrary and non-arbitrary
- builds on a specifi historical and social context
- scholars in discipline mainly white, western, elites, affluent, men
- interpretations related to our identities
- not innocent as these frames of reference have effects upon IR concepts, theories, policy recommendations
What new methods and issues do critical theories introduce?
interpretation of texts
look at narratives
visual
discourse analysis
ethnography
language
art
popular culture
literature
poetry
textbooks
introduce new
transnational actors
issues and relationships: identity, responsibility, gender, sexuality, ecology, equality, morality, ethics, diaspora, migration
Where are the women?
feminist curiosity
- rethinking top-down approach to IR and focus less on actions of leaders and diplomats
- different roles women play are dismissed as domestic, private or trivial
- links tourism, agriculture, and US military bases that need exploited female workers to maintain themselves
- IR theories don’t acknowledge these experiences, they only look at the top
- feminist informed investigation makes it clear that there are far more women engaged in international politics (not just female leaders, many more roles)
- conducting a feminist gender analysis requires investigating power
women and nuclear proliferation
- according to feminism the core of nuclear weapons is competitive male sexuality
- according to postcolonialism atomic weapons are a great equalizer (show that they are as scientifically advanced)
- women are underrepresented in nuclear non-proliferation conferences/talks/decisions
- gender tax = women have to change to fit in + are sometimes harrassed
- this matters: policies involving the building, deployment, targeting and use of nuclear weapons have long been the province of an insular, innovation-averse group of men
women and peace
peace processes without women’s participation usually produce less (lasting) peace
women’s participation makes resistance and negotiations more successful
argument that men are prone to conflict, while women are prone to cooperation
e.g. Oslo peace process (30 years ago) -> no lasting peace
- (women) main participants of the first Intifada were sidelined from the Oslo negotiations
- Palestinian women entered public life in unprecedented ways, guiding some of the most strategic nonviolent efforts to the 5–year resistence movement
- several Israeli women supported the uprising
suffragist peace theory
idea that the democratic peace theory doesn’t function due to democratic principles, but due to inclusivity
IR definitional problems
duality -> constituting inside and outside (Walker) = problem of marginalization
sovereignty v. self-determination = conflicting norms (sovereignty gets put above self-determination, it overshadows it)
sovereignty used to deny various populations of full subjectivity in IR and rights within the institutions that govern ir
privileging ‘‘citizens’’ over ‘‘humans’’
- national citizens v. human rights
- national security v. human security
series of other problematic distinctions: domestic/international, reason/rationality, peace/war, North/South, Democracy/Autocracy, religious/secular, high/low politics
!! boundary making = deciding what is important and what not in IR
!! othering = concepts marginalizing other dynamics
