Post-Structuralism Flashcards
Post-Structuralism
- More a critical attitude than a theory
- Questioned how it came to be seen as natural and inevitable to privilege state centric approaches to world politics
Understands language
not as a natural transmitter but as producing meaning
Things do not have
objective meaning independently of how we constitute them in a language
Every understanding of international politics
depends upon abstraction, representation and interpretation
Discourse
Specific series of representations and practices through which meanings are produced, identifications constituted, social relations established and political/ethical outcomes made less/more possible
Challanges…
Traditional assumptions about truth, power and construction of the knowledge
Focuses on…
How power and language shape what we consider “truth” and “knowledge”
Critisizes…
The idea of objective reality, arguing that what we perceive as reality is socially constructed through discourse
Drawing on the work of Michael Foucault…
Poststeucturalism claims that power operates through dominant narratives, these serve the interests of those in power
Emphasizes…
The importance of language in constructing and maintaining the dominant discourses
Language isn’t…
A passive medium of communication but an active force that shapes how we understand the world
Binaries such as civilized or uncivilized…
Are used to justify interventions, wars and policies by framing one group as superior to another
Argue that discourses…
Are not inherently true but constructed to serve specific political agendas
Criticizes the use of…
Essential labels such as “the global south” or “developing countries”
Offers…
A valuable critique of international relations by exposing how power operates through language and discourse
Challenges the assumption of…
Objective truth and highlights the role of elites in constructing dominant narratives
