Lecture 9 - Critical Theory

Question 1

positivist approaches

Answer 1

realism

liberalism

marxism

Question 2

post-positivist approaches

Answer 2

Social constructivism

Critical Marxism

Post structuralism

Feminist theory

Post colonialism

Question 3

Realism/foundationalism

Answer 3

Social phenomena exist independently of our understanding of them – they have an essence in their
own right, ‘out there

The world exists that is external to our theories.

There are regularities in human/state behaviour and thereby we can explain the social world in much the same way as a natural scientist might explain the physical world.

states desire power ‘naturally’; states are naturally
aggressive/peaceful

Question 4

Constructivism/antifoundationalism

Answer 4

Social phenomena are produced through human interaction.

Phenomena do not have an essence, are constantly changing.

Just because something is socially constructed does not mean it is not ‘real

The world is constructed by our theories by shaping how we act and thereby make those theories
become self-confirming.

We have free will rather than having our ‘choices’ determined behind our backs - our language and concepts as helping create that reality.

states nature and interests are defined by our rationalisation.

Question 5

interpretivist epistemology

Answer 5

Aim: Study meaning-making, understand human/state behaviour

Knowledge cannot be objective or value-free

The researcher is implicated: we can only know the world through the categories we have at hand (the meanings we ascribe)

Question 6

problem-solving theory

Answer 6

There is a distinction between facts and values, with facts being neutral between theories.

concerned with ‘discovering’ regularities from a disinterested or value-free position;

Aims at better prediction of human behaviour

Roughly the same methodologies apply in both the scientific and non-scientific worlds

takes the world as it is: system- maintenance bias

Question 7

critical theory

Answer 7

Reality perceived by theorists is dependent on their interests.

Separation between facts and values not possible.

All theories help constitute the world they claim merely to depict.

Question 8

Critical Theory: Central Tenets

Answer 8

critique of traditional / instrumental theories

critique of repressive and ‘normalized’ social practices and institutions in today’s world

emancipation: transformation of what it is

approach: hermeneutics, critical self-reflection from one’s standpoint

Question 9

hermeneutics, critical self-reflection from one’s standpoint

Answer 9

Using our individual experiences as entry-points into our ‘situadedness’.

Reflecting on the ‘limits of our knowledge’.

Reflecting upon ways in which certain social arrangements become ‘naturalized’/‘normalized‘.

Question 10

Critical Theory: Historical Precursors – Marxism

Answer 10

Transition to capitalism has changed the way human beings meet their material needs –> selling labour in return for a wage

Class: defined by ownership of means of production

The modes of production determine who has structural power and who benefits from the social system.

Historical materialism: base (forces and relations of production) and superstructure

Class struggles underpin state policies

Question 11

essential features Marxism

Answer 11

Materialist – base (forces and relations of production) and superstructure

Historical – international politics is different in different historical periods; a historical materialism.

Foreign policy decision-making driven by class relations within the global political economy

structural pressures drive decision-making

Question 12

vertical class divisions

Answer 12

division between capital and labour

Question 13

horizontal class division

Answer 13

divide between individual capitalists and labourers

Question 14

inter-state war generated by capitalism

Answer 14

War driven by conflict between capitalist states for control of markets; overproduction; profit – WWI; Capitalists cooperate to exploit the Global South

Question 15

world systems theory

Answer 15

core-semi-periphery- periphery exchange dynamics shape world system

satellite states distorted by elites focus on international market exchange.

Question 16

satellite state

Answer 16

A country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country

Question 17

Critical Theory: Historical Precursors – Gramscian IR

Answer 17

theory as political – creates real world political outcomes

focus on hegemony – the generation of coercion and consent

‘Third Face’ of power: A gets B to want what A wants

Question 18

Critical IR Theory: Frankfurt School

Answer 18

focus on the “superstructure”: culture, bureaucracy, the social basis and nature of authoritarianism, the structure of the family, etc.

Innovative analysis of the role of media/the ‘culture industry’

Therefore, a one-dimensional society (Marcuse) where the working class has simply been absorbed by the system and no longer represents a threat to it.

Radical democracy = widest possible participation in word and deed. actively identifying barriers to participation and overcoming them.

Question 19

Critical IR Theory: Robert Cox

Answer 19

Understand world orders as a continuing creation of new forms emerged in the configuration of three forces: Material Capabilities, Ideas and Institutions

Three levels of activity:
1. the organisation of production, more particularly with regard to the social forces engendered by the production process;

2 forms of state as derived from a study of state/society complexes; and

3 world orders, i.e. the particular configurations of forces which successively define the problematic of war or peace for the ensemble of states

Question 20

International Relations from a Critical Perspective: anarchic structure

Answer 20

Open-ended social structure constituted through changing and unfolding social relations and identities;

Repressive features reinforced through social and political practices (e.g., state system and its tendencies of violent exclusion of minority non-conformist identities).

What we take to be a ‘normal structure’ is a highly political and socially constructed order which privileges some while marginalizing others.

Question 21

International Relations from a Critical Perspective: states

Answer 21

Subjective agents –˃ their political and social interests are shaped by interaction with other actors as well as changing social and historical circumstances

Question 22

International Relations from a Critical Perspective: international institutions

Answer 22

Political legitimation and stabilizing function of existing world order but also emancipatory potential =˃ possible frameworks for arriving at rational consensus through communicative action based on arguments and persuasion