0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i

0
..
,t Approaches
. . h d can be safe ly lef t as ide esuoa 11on ere, an .
: • of a rela11onal co nstruc-
·a1ional pnnctp 1es . h . . pra ctice 1h1s mean s l at1is said
matter s. n .. 1 d
by lhe re leva nt offtc 1a s ma e respon ded to .
d f th e day a relatt ona 1con-
id ity. ~ I th.ef_en . op ana tion rat her th an an ex-
cia-sc 1entt 1c ex '
lal l am tacitly accepting that the Jrabql.inva-
fl. mon a pu 1c au-n even t that was a con ,ct a . o . .
. d interna tional orga niz at ions. This
ltan ces a~. t that could be co n stru cted, and
th e co n ic . . gly prefe r but th e fact re-
al we unquesttonm ' .
. d by the peop le soc ially re spons 1-
co11srr11c1e b h If they acted . Ana-
the actors on whose e a .
. t th e very east, focusing
, pass require s, a . . d
rod uced in prac 11ce, and ep. es produce d an r f n . ' l egi tim

ate and th ere ore
es as nor m ative 1Y 1
n. . l ih an ideal-typ ica l. Different
S rep rese nt a11ona h dh' as texts ca n be gal ere
ffere nt topograp ,es, ' s and int erests of the
1ordi no to the va ue
.ys ace o .. ant -observa tion eth n ography
closer to parttc tp · (2006a)
-tion of method, see P. Jackson .
ber 2002 (Bu sh 2002c). . ,,
p1em d 'th " iso latio ni sm , a term that
,ay be eq uate wt d 'sc uss ions of US fore ign
olarl y and popular i' f th oug ht in US policy
0 never been a sch oo l of world poli tics alto-
try Ouoht to stay ou . ,, ·ct oun "' d h "exemp lans t I ea
ionally tended to~ar t .: a full -tim e job" and
s ~nd ~~:c~~~:::~ re ~:~ r~ate space to carr.Y out
oltcy .. . .. ) but th is led nol to tsola-
lr ands 1998, v u-v tti ' !995) and efforts
en1al expansio n (S tepha nson
:a (Sch ulte ord holl 99~~·is in suffic ient to say
·onstructivisl per spec 11ve rvative advisers IO
. b Bush 's neoconse d
1g desire Y . rea ter Middle East an
itegy of rem ak in g th e g ment th at ca n be found
: Muslim worl.d-;~;;r Whi le thi s claim is cer-
W04) and Smtih ( . . for an invasion of
NAC went ?n reco rd ca ll~~~at is needed instead
ot translate rn10 ou1c.ome. acr on that desire.

,le for neoconservat~ve s 10 . Whether a sub·
es sa nl y a mo11ve. as 111, and not nee . iviiz ed cause w
; of th e Un ited States and its c d dvancing that
.ar indi vidu al's word_s and ~:est: u~tivist point~f
releva nt from a re a11ona l c . ful goa1-1n
. c'ally mea nin g ,..
nible int en11on-a so i s can not but.,.,
. . t' on supporter fa iitd other admm1stra t • . ff rds and c -
promulgation of that mt entton a o
· ·1 (t990i).attons . . UN Secu rit y Co unct
,te may be found Ill
6
Postmodern and
Critical Theory Approaches
Postmodernism and Critical Th~pry ·
Jennifer Sterling-Folker
Although postmod em is m and cr itica l theory w ill be di
scusse d toge the r, it is
import ant to und e rscore th at they a re different theoretica l p
erspec tives.
Postmode mi sm is derived from the s tudy of literatu re, and
crit ica l theorists
find its abandonm e nt of the En lig htenm en t proj ect o bject
ionab le. Alte rn a-
tively, crit ica l theory is a fo rm of neo- or Wes tern Marxist a
nalysis, and
postmode rn sc ho lars c riti c ize it fo r co nt inu ing to
participate in that same

Enlighten ment project. Hence the two sc hool s of thought can
be an tago-
nists. Yet as Pauline Rose na u has obse rved, "the re lat ions
hip betwee n the
two is _far from s imp le" ( 1990: 104). Each is a dedicated po
stpositivi st ap-
proach, and the te rm "c ritical theo ry" is somet imes used to
indica te all the-
oretical perspec tives that share this dedication.' Many scho lars
who work in
either tradi tion have so ught to bui Id analytica l bridges
between them, be-
cause they share a se t of philo so phi cal precur so rs, incl
uding Friedrich N iet-
zsche, Martin He idegger, Edmund Hu sserl, and Ludwig
Wittgenstein. Thu s
there are good reaso ns for disc uss ing them together , a lth
ough thei r part icu -
larorigins and goa ls of ana lys is are diffe rent.
Postmod erni sm de ri ves from the French s tudy o f literature
and lan-
guage, and some of the more se m inal aut h ors to its
developmen t include
Jacques De rrida , Miche l Foucau lt, Em ma nu e l Levinas, J ea
n -Fra nc;ois Ly-
otard, Roland Bar thes, and Jea n Baudr illa rd. Within the IR
discip lin e -the
tenn"post structurali s m" is frequent ly preferred, as it co ns
titu tes "a theory
ofknowledge and lang uage" that is seen as more releva nt to fR
, rather than
providing, as po s tm ode mi s m does, "a theo ry of socie ty,
cul tur e, and his-
tory"(Agger 199 I : l 12). Yet the two terms are often used
interc hangeably

due lo their signi ficant theore tica l overla p, their shared a nal
y tica l heritage,
andtheir mutual "ave rs ion to c lea n posi tivis t de fini t io ns a
nd catego ries"
169
abili
stmod
objec
ar
ore
e
.objec
rests
The
stud
soc
se,
t
chf
al
2
, ,
,
170 Postmodern and Critical Theory Approaches

(Agge r 1991 : 112). 2 Both deve loped in the con tex t of Frenc
h structuralism,
whic h "is a theory of signs, post-struc turali sm a cr itiq ue of
the sign; struc-
turalism investigates how soc ial phenomena ca n be explained
by stable and
pervasive meaning systems, post-structurali sm shows how all
mean ing sys-
tem s are precariou s, self-defea ting and only strive for closu re
without ever
succeedi ng " (Wrever 1996: 171 ). Given the se s ignificant
analytical over-
lap s, and that the term "postmoderni sm " was utili zed to
describe thi s per-
spective when it was introduced into the di sc ipline, the term is
used here to
subsume IR work that label s itse lf poststructuralist instead .
As a postpo sitivi sl approach, postmod ern ism is not a theory
in the pos-
itivi st sense of providing ca usal explanations for soc ial
phenomena. Rather
it is a critiqu e meant to reveal the disjuncture s of
Enlightenment mod ernity,
which , postmodern sc holars contend. impose s meaning on
socia l activity
and, in so doing , establishes hierarchie s of power tha t we then
accept as
natural. Postmoderni sm seeks to ups et what is taken for
granted and reveal
how discourse impo ses meaning and he nce a value st ructur e
that is both so-
cially constructed and historically a rbitrar y.
Critical theor y is also po stpositivist , but its origins are d

ifferent. It de-
veloped out of what is called the Frankfurt School , which was
established
prior to World War II by a group of German sc holar s who so
ught to sa lvage
Marxist thought from its ort hodo x, political manifestation s.
Heavily influ-
enced by the work of Nietzsche , the first genera tion of critical
theo rists in-
c luded Max Horkh ei mer, Theodor Adorno, He rbe rt Marcuse,
and Walter
Benjamin. Best known among the seco nd ge neration of scho
lars is Jurgen
Habe rmas. From a critical theory perspective , it is Marxi sm,
not liberalism,
that is the tru e heir of Enlightenment thou g ht. Critical theory
shares with
postmodernism a skeptici sm of the liberal claim to a un iversa l
and morally
acc urate value struc tur e . It see ks to recove r Marxi sm 's
emancipatory ele-
ments by focusing on c ulture. philo sophy , and lang uage,
rather than on po-
litical economy , as the potential sites for overco ming soc ial
domination and
oppre ss ion.
Neither theoretica l perspecti ve was developed in the US
discipline of
IR, nor were they particularly pertin ent to its ear ly
development, and both
have been more influential to the European study of IR. 3 When
these per-
spec tives were introduced into the US di sc ipline in the 1980s,
they gener-
ated what is often referred to as the ·'thi rd debate" (Lapid

1989), thus differ-
entiating it from two prior pe riod s of theor etica l
disagreement that
galvanized the discipline. 4 What di stingui shed the third
debate was that it
struck at "the very co re of what cons titut es the inte rnati onal
relations field
and requir e[d] its thorough and complete reconstruction" (P.
Rosenau 1990: ·
83). Proponent s of these perspective s soug ht not only a
change in the:US
discipline's preferred methodology or positivi st epi ste mology,
but also_a
change in the very ontology of the di sc ipline, grou nded as it
is in a faith ID
our
po
an
along
give
proach
of
IR
the
that
repre
it will
cussing
proa
describ
"whene
they
321-3
a text

its par
preted
system
signs.
(Wrev,
Speake
compl
Yi
topos
fleets
ricea:
thatc
this a
bythe
refle<
lbrou
Value
fonc1
CCrta
arca
spec
of"
e disc ipline , grou nded as it is in a faith 111 of "se lf and other
" (Do ty l 996; ln ayatulla h and Bl aney 2004; Neumann
:al Theory Ap proache~
in the co nte x t of Fren ch structurali s m,
.ctu rali s m a c ritiqu e of th e s ign ; stru c-
10mena can be ex pl ai ned by s table and
icturali sm shows ho w a ll m ea nin g sys-

nd only stri ve for c los ur e w ith out eve r
iven these s ignificant analytical over-
ism " was utiliz ed to de sc ribe thi s pe r-
the di sc iplin e, the term is used here to
osts tru c turali st ins tea d.
stmod erni s m is no t a theo ry in th e pos-
lanati o ns for soc ial ph enom e na . R ather
sjunctur es of Enli ght e nme nt _m ode~ni~y,
.d, imp oses mean in g on soc ial activity
·chies of power tha t we then accept as
set what is take n for granted and revea l
1hence a va lue s tructure that is both so-
rbitrary.
.ivist , but its o rigi ns are different. It de-
rankfurt Schoo l, whi c h was established
German scho lars who so ught to sa lvage
political manife stations. H ea v il~ in~u-
e first ge nerat ion of c riti ca l th eo rists m-
Adorno, Her bert Marcuse , and Walter
seco nd ge nera tion of sc hol ars_ is Jti~gen
erspec ti ve, it is M arxism , not hb erah s~ ,
en t thou ght. C riti ca l t heory share s with
libera l c laim to a uni versa l and morally
:o recove r Marx ism 's ema ncip ato ry e le-
:,soph y, and lang uage, ra th er t_han_on po-
es for overco min g socia l domination and
e was developed in the US disc iplin e of
tinent to it s ea rl y development, and both
European stud y of IR .3 When th ese per-
! US discipline in the I 980s, they g~ner-

! "third debate " (Lap id 198 9), thu s d 1ffer-
riod s of th eo re ti ca l di s agre e m ent th~t
dis tin gui shed the third debate ~as th~t 11
onst itutes the int e rnation al relauon s field
,mplete reco nstru cti on" (P. Ro se nau 1990~
tives soug ht not onl y a ch ange in the U
gy or po s iti v is t epistemo logy, b ut a_Jso_ a
Postmodernism and Critical Theory 171
our ab ili ty to accurately k now a true socia l real ity with posi
t ivism . As one
postmodern IR sc holar ha s p ut it , "ra tionali s ts cl ing to the
faith t ha t there is
an object ive reality out th e re th at is wait in g for the r ight
method to come
a long and in the name of sc ie nti fic progress mak e use of,
make sense of
give o rd er to it " ( De r De ria n 1997 : 57). A lt e rn ative ly,
post po sit iv is t ap~
proac~ es _s~ch as pos tm od erni s m and c riti ca l th eo ry cha
lle nge thi s notion
of obJec t1v1ty and he nce th e pr e mi ses up o n wh ich th e
US discipline of
IR rests.
The philosophical antecede nt s of bot h perspective s may be
trace d to
the st ud y of langua ge and ling ui stics , and from th ese both
deri ve the idea
that soc ial reality is crea ted through discours e. Th at is, how
we discursively
represent somet hin g a lso de termines how we ac t toward it
and hence wha t
it will be. While we first enco unt ered the " he rm e ne uti c

circle" when dis-
cuss in g co ns tru cti vism, it ass um es g reate r s ignificance
in postpo Sitiv ist ap-
proach es. Not only can we no t know the wo rld absen t th e
words we use, to
describe it , but we a re a lso co nfron te d wit h t he esse nti al
di lemma tha t
"whenever peop le try to es tabli sh a certa in rea ding of a tex t
or ex pr ess ion,
the y allege other rea ding s as the ground for th e ir reading"
(Adler 1997:
321-322). Thi s mea ns tha t we can never a rri ve at the one
"true " rea d ing of
a text , on ly multiple , layered inter pr etations o f it , so that
the text itse l f (a nd
its particular auth or) becomes less importa n t than how it has
be e n inter-
pr eted and meanin g assigned to it. To pu t this ano th er way,
·'all meaning
systems are open- end ed sys tem s of signs referr ing to signs
refe rr ing to
signs. No co ncep t ca n th e refo re have an u lti m ate, unequi
vocal meaning "
(Wrever 1996 : 17 l ). Thi s m akes th e role or in tent io ns of
th e autho r or
speake r re latively unimp ort ant , and in literary post mode rni
sm the au th or is
complet ely e ffa ced from ana lysis.
Yet meaning-mak ing is no t an ind iv idual or random activity
acco rdin g
to po stpos iti vist approac hes. It proceed s from socie ty and c
ultu re, and it re-
~ects lin gui stic stru ctur es, " me ta-narratives," or systems of
d isc ur sive prac-
tice and knowledg e produc ti on that indiv iduals are embed

ded wit hin and
that create and reprodu ce the wo rld through them. Bot h
perspec ti ves see
this as ai;1 ac t of s ubjuga ti on , in th a t mean in g is imposed
on th e indi vidu al
by these meta -narr atives rather tha n vice versa, and in fact,
meaning -m aking
reflec ts power at a ve ry fund amenta l level. Meaning is al
ways assig ned
throu gh an oppos iti o na l arrang e ment in whic h so me sy
mbol s, ideas, and
values are e leva ted and oth e rs are su bordi nat ed . Truth it
self then becomes a
function of this dis c urs ive o pp os iti ona l arra ngement. We
ta ke for ora nted
. . b
certam ideas a nd act iviti es as na tur a lly goo d or bad , w he
n such j ud gmen ts
are act uall y products of spec ifi c knowl e dge -prod ucing
systems and hence
specif ic hi stor ica l c irc um sta nces.
One juxtapo s it ion th at has be en m os t re leva n t in the stud
y of IR is tha t
eri
er
1
l
's

s
,
l
ii
c
172 Postm odern and Cri tical Theo ry App roaches
1999), which re fers 10 the idea that we ca nnot know who we a
rc unless we
co nside r who we are not. Thi s has o bviou s releva nce 10 a
Westph alian
wo rld , which is div ided into te rritor ia l, po litical unit s with
spec ific popula -
tions disti nct from one another. In making ~uc h d is1inc1io ns.
say 10 speak of
diffe rences betwee n Ameri ca ns and Mexican s, we a lso e
ngage in va lue
judgme nts a bout what is or is not proper and in so doin g
produ ce and reify
a wo rld in whic h exc lusion on the bas is o f those value j ud g
me nt see ms
natural. To refe r, for exa mpl e, 10 ... Lat in Ame rica · is 1101
ju st 10 refe r 10 [or
re prese nt] an area on the g lobe; it is to he lp repr odu ce an
ins tituti onalized
form of dominan ce, o ne in whic h the minority. Hispa nic part
of pop ulations
in the regio n con trol the origi nal indi ge no us gro ups"
(Shapiro 1989: 15).
He nce the soc ial rea lity that is c rea ted by the imp osi tion of
meani ng in-
vo lves subjuga tion and soci a l injustices that are uncri tica lly

and co ntinu ally
reproduced as if they were inev itab le.
The ex a mina t ion o f these sorts o f ju xta pos it ion~ has bee
n ce nt ra l to
pos tmode rn ism and c rit ic al theory, as we ll as to a noth er
po stpos i1ivist
perspective-postcolo ni al ism- whic h foc uses on IR 's Eur oce
ntri sm and
the e mbedd ed rac ism in it juxtapo s ition of a We te rn/ mod e
rn Self to a
non-Weste rn/backwards Othe r (Said 1979).5 Wh at these pers
pec tives share
is an inter est in ·' how disco urse is re lated 10 the co nstru ct
ion and s ubjuga-
tion of humank ind" (Grego ry 1989: xxi). Th ey see k to inter
rogate rep resen-
tat ions, ask ing why it is imp ortan t 10 rep rese nt thin gs in a
ce rtai n way, so
that e mbedded know ledge and va lue struc tur e may be revea
led and cri-
tiqued. They are inte rested in what peo ple say, how they desc
ribe the world,
and how they ju stify wha t they do in it. beca use the verba l
and wriuen de-
sc ript ion and j us1ifica 1ions are as important 10 unde r tan
ding the world as
the deeds that follow. They wish 10 reveal these embed ded va
lue structures
in order to oppose them , beca u!>e reve lation ex pose s the ex
te nt 10 which in-
d ividual ident ity has been imposed , the ex tent to whic h .. ot
hers .. have been
de fined and excl uded politica lly and eco nomica lly by such
imposition, and
th e ex te nt 10 which vio le nce aga inst the se "o thers .. is sa

nctioned on the
basis of ide ntity di ffere nce. By pu lling apart meani ng-maki
ng. the se per-
spec ti ves see k LO reve al the kno wledge- produ c ing powe r
struc ture s under-
nea th. Hence they endeavo r " 10 highl ight the ex istence o f
co unter-hegemonic
or co unte rvailing tende nc ies whic h are invariabl y prese nt
within all social
a nd pol itica l structures" (Linklate r 1996: 283) . Th ey d o so
by unpacking or
pulling apart the meanings embedded or implic itly assumed in
texts, whether
these tex ts are pub lic state men ts by po licy mak er~ or the
writ ings of other
IR scho lars.
Whil e many o f the id eas abou t mean ing- ma king and ident
ity serve as
the founda tion for IR co nstru cti vis m a s we ll. ult imately co
nstructivism:
see ks to c lose off the herm eneu tic c irc le by arguin g that s
ince we do create
a soc ial re a lity, ii is log ica lly poss ible to use sc ie ntifi c
met hodology to
und
rhis
scienr
projec
libera
provid
Bush
alries.
the inv
of thi

ically
Ir
critica
thar, I
alizes.
assisic
emanci
trolled
assisiec
temoloi
tivity re
"logoce
to exrer
cannot <
Fro
norance
tion, an<
lies on
univers~
have im1
lion of v
cinctly r
emphasi
merely s
orienta1i,
meta-nar
While pre
that post
dominan
subscribt
One
lematize
"the enu

173 ,I Theory Approaches
. can not know who we are unless we
; bvio us r-elevance to a Westp h a lian
., politi ca l unit s wit h spec ifi c popula-
t ing s uc h di s tin ctions, say to speak of
Mex ica ns, we also e n gage in va lu e
per and in so doi ng produ ce and reify
asis of those va lu e judg m ent s seems
itin America' is not just to refer to [or
to help reproduc e an in stit ut iona l'.zed
minority, Hi spani c part of population s
ligenou s gro ups" (S hapiro l 98~: 1 ~).
ted by th e imposition of m ean '.ng m-
:es that are uncr itica lly and continually
..of juxtapo s itions has bee n ce n~r~l _to
as well as to anot he r pos tpos1uv1st
'ch focuses on IR 's Eurocentrism and
>sitio n of a Weste rn/ modern Se lf to a
. 1979 ) .s What these pe rspec tives ~h are
elated to the const ru c tion and subJu ga-
xxi). They seek to interrogate_ repr ese n-
to represent thin gs in a certa in way, s_o
ue structure s may be revea led and cn -
Jeople say, how they descr ibe th~ wor ld,
in it, beca use the ve rbal and wntten de -
important to und e rstanding the wo rld as
revea l th ese embedded value s tru ctu~es
:velation exposes the extent to which m-
the exten t to whic h "others" hav e been

;d eco nom ica lly by such impo s ition , and
nst thes e "o th ers" is sanctio ned o n the
illing apart m ea nin g -m ak in g, the se per-
ledge -pr od ucing powe r struc tur es unde'.-
hlioht the existence of cou nter-hege mo~1c
h :re invari ably present w ithin all ~octal
: 1996: 283). They do so by un packing or
led or impli citly assumed in text s, whether
by poli cymake rs or th e wr itin gs of other
ut meanin g- making and id ent it y se r_v~ as
,vism as we ll, ult imatel_Y construct 1v1::
; circle by arg uing th at s ince we do ere
ossible to use scie ntifi c m et hodo logy to
Postmodernism and Critical Theory
und erstand and explain it. Neither pos tm ode rni s m nor
critical theo ry views
thi s epis temol ogica l middl e gro un d as morally viable, beca
use , they argue,
sc ie ntific methodology h as bee n harnessed by th e liberal
Enlig hte nm ent
project, which is not a value - free d isc urs ive str uctur e . A n
examp le of ho w
liberal discurs ive s tructur es can shape un de rsta nd ing and ju
s tify ac tion is
provid ed by Rosemar y Shinko in Chapt er 6.2. Sh inko exami
nes George W.
B ush 's 2002 State of the U nion address , and the iss ue of Iraq
i ciYilian casu -
a lties, to deco nstruc t the lib eral meta-narrative of humanity
that underwro te
th e in vas ion. Shink o demon s trat es the inc onsistencies and
indeterminacies

of thi s meta-na rrati ve and argu es that the quest ion of hum
anity must be rad-
icall y rethought.
It is on th e s ubject of sc ie nce that the link be tween
postmodern ism,
cr iti ca l theory , and postpo s itiv ism becomes clea rest.
Postposit iv ists argue
tha t, like a ll know ledge-prod uc ing s tru ct ure s, liberal is m
excl udes, marg in-
alize s, and licenses viole nce and op pre ss ion aga inst pa rtic
u la r others. It has
assisted a proc ess in which scie ntifi c and technologi ca l
advances have ~ot
emancipated human beings from th e v ic iss iwde s o f natu re,
b ut ra ther con-
troll ed them for the sak e of cap ital is m in parti c ular. He nce
liberalism has
ass is ted a proc ess of disciplini ng o r re press ing the
individua l, and any epis-
temology that ass ists it is morall y impli ca ted as well ,
protestation s o f objec-
tivit y to th e co ntrar y. In fac t, tho se ve ry pro tes ta tions
mark po s itiv is m as
"logocent ri c," which means " mi s tak e n ly cla iming leg it
imacy by refere nce
to exte rnal , univ ersa lly truthful propo s itions " (P. Ro senau
1990: 86), whi ch
can not ex is t if soc ia l real ity is a soc ial and hi stori cal
constr uction.
From a po s tpos itivist pers pec tive, positivism invo lves philo
so phical ig-
noran ce about the co nstru ctio n of soc ia l rea lity, one 's role
in that co nst ruc -
tion , and the ex tent to whic h lib era lis m is a hi s torical meta

-n arra tive th at re-
lies on power and dom inati o n, eve n as it is posing as a
morally superior
unive rsa l truth. It reflects a failur e " to under s tand that int
ellect ual proj ec ts
have important moral impli cations for the na tio nal and interna
t iona l distr ibu-
tion of wea lth and power" (Li nk later l 996: 28 1 ), o r as
Robert Cox has s uc-
cinct ly put it, "a ll theory is for so meo ne and for so me
purpose " (1981: 128,
empha s is in orig inal). Rath er than di scove ri ng social reali
ty, then , posit ivi sm
mere ly s ucc ee d s in re produ cing it , bec ause it " champ io
ns a particu lar va lue
orienta tion- ins trum ent al ratio nalit y" (Leonar d 1990: 34 )-
w h ic h se rve s the
meta-narra t ive of liberali s m and rei fies its particu lar for m s
of s ubju ga tion ,
whi le providing no mean s of recog ni zing o r op po sing it. lt
is for this reason
that post mode rni sm and c riti ca l th eory have a co nt entious
re latio nsh ip with
dominant or main stream IR th eore tical pe rspec tives, all of
wh ich imp lic itly
subscrib e to pos itiv ism as the mos t appropr ia te means of
und e rsta ndin g IR:
One topic that postpo s itivi s l sc ho lar s ha ve ten ded to focus
on and prob -
lemat ize in particu lar is the di sc iplin e's treatmen t of sove
reig nty as s imp ly
"the e nun c iat io n of a terr itoriall y base d concept ion of co
mmunity that

tive
y,
er
valu
ati,
co,
to
tr
st
o ,
ue
s,
demands the loya lty of its ci ti7ens·· and ha, 111g,therefore,
··a natural
esse nce to its ex istence " (Dunne 200 1: 86). Tim Dunne notes
that from a
postpositivist perspec tive. sovereig nty is ··rhe foundi ng
moment of politics
itse lf,'" because it "represents the fault-line bet'CCn co
mmunity and anar-
chy" (200 I: 86-87). It i therefore --what make s Westphalian
international
politics possib le' · (see also Wrever 1996: 167- 169).
According to Andrew
Linklater, critical theorists are also interested in unpacking the
concept and
practice of sove reignty, because sovereignty ··re!>trict ~ the
capac ity of out-
siders to parti cipa te in discou rse to consider issues wh ich
concern them,"

while critical theory "env isages the use of unconstrained d
iscourses to de-
termine the moral sig nifi cance of national boundarie and to
examine the
possibility of post-sovereign forms of political life .. ( 1996:
294. 280).
It is here, however. that obvious differences be t een po
tmodernism
and critical theory also begin to eme rge. While both are
interested in discur-
sive practices, postmoderni sm is skeptical o f all meta-
narratives, arguing
that if truth is embedded in discursive structure!> then it is not
·'out there"
waiting to be discovered. Postmodern ism i!> concerned" ith
revealing these
structure s in order to revea l the power and subjugation that s
upport them,
but it is largely resigned to the ··postmodern cond ition·· in
which truth is re-
vealed to be a socia l construction (P. Rose nau 1990: 104).
That is, if we
cannot know right or wrong ab ent our own social creat ions. or
a David
Dess ler puts it, '·causa lly independent of the mind·· ( 1999:
124), then all
truth syste ms become equa l and none can claim to be better.
Conversely. critical theorists retain a belief in and comm itment
to En-
lightenment ideal s as a "true " discursive structure that liberal
is m has mis-
chann eled or co-op ted. The point of revealing the dominant
libera l meta-
narrative is to replace it with a discursive tructure that does

finally obtain
the Enlightenment ideal s of human emancipation. Henc e
critical theorists
are interested in the discursive practice s of policyma kers not
only to reveal
discursive struc ture , but becau se they also want policymakers
to live up to
thei r own libera l rheto ric and actually achieve the
Enlightenme nt's universal
moral code. Because cr itical theo rists be lieve in a particular
meta-narrative
in a way that· postmodern ists do not , the laller are as inclined
to critique the
former as they are real ists, liberal s . and con tructivi ts. The
goa ls of post-
modern and critical theory analy s i are quit e different as a
result.
A postmodern perspective suggests that all meta-narrat ives
require the
disciplining of the individua l and the subjugation of the other.
Hence the de-
sire to rep lace one meta-narrative with another on the grounds
of morality is
a sham , since it is esse ntiall y the replacement of o ne sys tem
of oppression
with another. Because the discursive construct io n o f soc ial
reality makes
human emancipation imposs ible, the unpa ck ing o f the meta -
narrative is the
point of analysis for a postmodern scho lar. In other words.
postmodernism
does not see k to replace the meta-narrativ e it is exam inin g or
to construct
an alterna

it accuratel
ways to int
terest or
meta-narr
accepts in
sitions or
Given
one of the
motes moral
IR pos tmodf
produce gre;
"attempt t
dental val
and exerci
ment" (Der
tives in the
subjugation
postpositivi:
explicit exp
1999;Der [
Critical
modernism
the "true., f
universal er
liberalism'i
squandered
cal theory s
it, its "emp
tween kno,
scendant of
shares wit!
change in I
significant
"willingne:

its transfor
lowing M,
change it"
ory is mea
Howe·
social theo
example, c
modernisn
175
al Theory Approaches
" and ha v ing, th e refore. "a natu ral
11: 86). Tim Dunn e notes that from a
y is " th e founding mo men t of politics
It-lin e between co mmuni ty and anar-
.vhat makes We stph alian int e rn ati ona l
996: 167- 169) . According to Andrew
1terested in unpa cki n g the concept and
!reign ty " res tri cts th e capaci t y of out-
; onsid er iss ues whi c h co nce rn th em,"
Jse of unc onstra ined d isco ur ses to de-
1tional bound aries and to exam in e th e
,f po litica l li fe" ( 1996: 294, 280).
s d ifferenc es betw ee n pos tmod emi sm
·ge. While bot h are int ereste d in di scur-
e ptical of all meta- na rrati ves, argu in g
ve structures th en it is not "o ut th e re "
·nism is concerned wit h revea lin g the se
ver and s ubju ga ti on that support them,
mod em co nditi on " in whi ch truth is re-
'P Ro se n au I990 : I 04 ). Th at is , if we
' ~ur ow n s ocial creat ion s, or as D av id

ent of the mind " ( I 999 : 124 ), th e n all
1e can cla im to be bette r.
:tain a be lief in a nd comm itm ent to En-
mive s tru cture that lib e rali s m has mi s-
)f revea ling the domin a nt lib e ral meta-
:ur sive st ru ct ur e that do es fin all y obta in
1 eman c ipa t io n. Hence crit ica l th eo rists
:tices of policy mak ers not o nl y to revea l
hey also wa nt po licy m akers to live up to
.ly achieve the E nli ghte nme nt 's uni ve r_sal
sts be lieve in a p artic ular meta- narr ativ e
t the latter are as inclin ed to cr itique the
; 'a nd co ns tru c ti vis ts . Th e goa ls of post-
,' are qu ite diffe re nt as a re s ult.
,gests that all meta- narr ati ves requ ire the
1e subjugation of th e other. He nce th~ d~-
,;ith ano th er on th e grou nd s of morality 1s
replaceme nt of one sys tem of oppressio n
;ive co nstru ct io n of soc ial rea lity makes
he unpa ck ing of the meta -na rrat ive is_the
1 scho lar. In othe r word s, postmodermsm
-narrati ve it is exam inin g or to co n Slruct
Postmodernism and Critical Theory
an alternative to it. In fact , g ive n that we ca n never know rea
lit y o r describe
1t accurately, po st moderni sm assumes that th ere are an
infinite number of
ways to interpret the sa me text o r eve nt and that all of them
are of eq ua l in-
ter es t or va lue. T he po int of po s tmoderni sm is ins tead to
challenoeb exis tin o b
m eta-narra ti ves by utili z in g alte rn ative methodo logies,
and in so doing , " it

a~~epts inconsi stency an d contradiction, fee ling no need to
reconcile op p o-
s 1t1o ns or to choose betw ee n th e m " (P. Rosenau 1990: 86).
.
Give n th at all uni ve rsal truth claims are q uestioned in po s
tmodernism,
on e of t he s tand ard acc usat ion s lev e led aga in s t th e
approach is that it pro-
mot es m ora l re lativism and a form of et hi ca l resig nat ion
or despai r. Many
IR pos tm ode rni sts co unt er th at the opposite is t ru e, and
that it can in stea d
produce g reate r fo rm s of tolera nce for identi ty diffe re nce.
Beca use it is an
"a tt empt to und ers tand-w ith ou t reso rt of externa l authoriti
es or tra nscen -
den ta l va lues-w hy one mor a l or p o litica l system a ttain s a
h ig he r s tatu s
and exe rc ises more influence than ano ther at a particular hi
stor ical mo-
ment " (Der Deri an 1997: 58), it can revea l how other theo ret
ica l perspec-
ti ves in the discipl in e naturali ze rather than oppose vio lence,
poverty , and
subj uga ti on in wo rld politi cs. In thi s regard, it is importa nt
to note that it is
postpos iti vists, ra th er than po sitiv ists , who have been m
ore interested in the
ex pli cit exp lorat ion of ethi cs in IR (Campbell 1993; Camp
bell and Shap iro
1999; Der Deria n 1997) .
C ri tical theory s ha res th ese et hica l concerns, bu t it d iff
ers from post-
modernism in its de s ire to sub sti tute o r reco nstruct wha t is

believed to be
the "true" En li g h tenm e nt meta-narrative. Critical theor y
seeks to achieve
uni versa l ema nci pati on , wh ich, it arg ues , co uld have bee
n rea lized if not fo r
libe rali s m 's alli an ce wit h ca pita li s m and sc ie nce, w hi c
h has effective ly
squand ered and deflected t his possib ili ty. Th e res ult is that ,
althou gh c rit i-
ca l th eory see k s to deco nstru ct th e li beral meta- narrat ive
in o rde r to re place
it, its "emp h as is on the ex istence of fo undati on s for maki
ng judgments be-
twee n know ledge c laims" demo nstrates that theore tica ll y it
is "a d irect de-
sce nd ant of the Ka n tian en light enm ent project" (S . Sm ith
1996: 28) . It a lso
sha res w it h co ns tru c ti v ism a be li e f in the po ss ibili t
ies of fund amen tal
change in IR , and it take s se rio us ly th e notion that IR theo
ris ts ca n play a
signi ficant ro le in pro m ot ing s uch change. As Ri c har d Wy
n Jo nes no tes, its
"wi ll ing ness to face up to rea lit y simu ltaneousl y incl ud es
a commitme nt to
its tran sfo rm at io n and a belief that such a t ransfo rm at ion
is feas ib le. Fol-
lowin g Marx, criti ca l th eor ists see k to understa nd th e wor
ld in orde r to
change it" ( l 999: 22) . Thi s mean s that unl ike po s tmodern
ism, c rit ical the -
ory is mea nt to have prac ti ca l, poli t ica l intent.
Ho weve r, as S tephen Leo nard ha s observe d , "forg ing a
link between
socia l theory and po liti ca l practi ce is .. . no mean task"

(1990 : 3). How, for
examp le, doe s o ne move from the same onto logica l pos iti o
n as that of pos t-
mod erni s m to o ne in whic h the Enli ghte nm e nt project may
be trea ted as a
y. ·
i
di
lol
er
i
ia
te
f
e
,
,
·
,
176 Postm o dern and Cri ti cal Theory Ap p roac hes
foundational narrative? How can thi project and its goal o f
human emanci-
pation be realized in actual political practice? And how can we,
as IR schol-
ars, recognize and pro mote the action s and po licies necessa ry
to achieve

thi s goal ? Different answers to these ques t io n5 have produc
ed di fferent
variants of criti cal theory. One of the belier-known variants is
based on the
work o f Habermas, and Chapter 6 .3, by Rodge r Pay ne , is an
ex ampl e of
what can be called the "linguistic turn " in critica l theo ry.
What distin-
gu ishes this variant is its focus on co mmuni cation acts as a
possible s ite for
foundationa l knowledge claims and the practical achieve ment
of emancipa-
tion . Habe rma s has argued that truth and ethi cs are inheren t
to lang uage,
an d that we ca n, in pri nc iple at least , prod uce s ituations of
'' idea l speech
acts" that dep end on ethi ca l co nsensus among part ic ipants.
In such situa-
tions it would not be power, social identities . or cultural di
stortions that de-
termine collective outco mes, but rather the ration ally mo re
convincing ar-
gument that would prevail.
The critical theory variant proposed by Habermas entails what
is called
uni versal pra gmatics or d iscourse ethics. in wh ich ' ·part ic
ipants aim to be
guided by nothing other than the force of the better arg ument
and agree that
norms cann ot be va lid unless they co mmand the co nsent o f
eve ryone who
stand s to be a ffected by them" (Linkl ater 1996 : 286). Beca
use consensual
communication is a crucial element of the Habc rmasian varia
nt, how nation-

states reach collective decisions is ju st as impo rtant as the goa
ls they collec-
tive ly pursue. As a result. critical theorists tend to be skeptical
of goals that
are espoused as ethically desirable but have not been co
nsensually and pub-
licly derived. Thi s skepticism is reflected in Payne's analysis of
the ways in
which pub lic debate and deliberat ive democracy were di sto
rted by the Bush
admini stration in its allempt to obtain con sent for the invasion.
Payne argues
that, in the absence of a truly deliberative process that reflected
communica-
tive rat ionality, the legitimacy of the invas ion is h ighly q ues
tionable.
The need to ove rco me or dismantle nation-state sovere ignty is
also cru-
c ial to the appli cati on of disco urse ethics in JR. because as a
" bounded
moral and politica l communi ty," the natio n-stal e exc lud es
others and in-
hibit s the k ind of unconstrain ed commu n ications needed for
the achieve-
ment of ideal speech acts (Linklater 1996: 287 ). The res ult is
that the Hab-
erma s ian varian t of crit ical theo ry tend s to " re flect a ge
neral left-liberal
se ns ibilit y" (Wy n Jon es 1999 : 64) , and it shares with lib
eral pluralism an
exp licit des ire to move beyond the natio n-s tat e. T he va riant
pro posed by
Habermas also entire ly abandons economics as the potential
site for change
and emanc ipation. Yet o ther variants of cr itical theory have

continued to
focus on modes of production and class in prov iding alternative
answers for
how to link theory and practice within a neo- Marxian
framework.
One cr itical theor y variant that has reta ined a focus o n econ
omics is
historical materialism, which is disc us ed in Chapter 7. I along
with world
system theor
o ry ana ly is
nication and
fects of the g
in cor e and p
1996 : 287). In
the Habennas
histori cal ma
social movem
under the sam
retica l and prac
the sources of
grasp the possi
can be explore
Thi s i als
tinct, despite r
critical theory'
unconstrained c
sation is a pow
beyond this to;
struggle in thei
gies and preser
strange to the
causal variable

and pro vide cc
Instead posrmc
strange in orde
of discursive t
on what the po
novels, foot bal
culture.6 In an
terconnecred. 7
(metaphors of
down, and "rer
sport?).
Although t
theorists is not
And criti cal th
openness thatc
looking for pre
these criticismi
have tended to
!he rest of the
177
cal Theory Approach :s
proj ect and its goa l o f hum an eman c i-
Jractice? And ho w ca n we, as IR sc ho l-
ons and policie s necessa ry to ac hie ve
se q uest ions have produced differ e nt
;: better-k now n variant s is base d on the
3, by Rod ge r Pay ne, is an exam pl e o f
turn " in criti ca l th eo ry. What di s tin-
,mmuni ca tion ac ts as a poss ibl e s ite for
the practical achie ve men t of e m anc ip a-

th and et hi cs are inh e re nt to langua ge,
st, produce s itu atio ns of " ide al sp~e ch
1sus am ong participants. In such s 1tua-
dent ities, or cultur al d is tortion s th at de-
1ther the rationall y more co nvin ci ng ar-
·Osed by Haberm as en tail s what is c alled
ethic s, in whi ch " part ic ip ants ai m to be
rce of the bette r argum ent and ag ree th at
co mm and the co nse nt of eve ryo ne who
nklat er 1996: 286). Bec au se co n se nsual
of the Haberm as ian variant , how nation -
just as impo rtant as th e goa ls they collec-
heorists tend to be ske pti ca l o f goa ls that
but have not bee n co nse ns ually and pub-
fleeted in Payne 's analysis of the ways in
ve democracy wer e di sto rted by th e Bu sh
:1in consent for the invas ion . Pa y ne argu es
erat ive pro cess th at refl ec ted co mmuni ca-
he invas ion is hi ghl y que stionab le .
iantle nation -state sove re ignt y is also cru-
rse ethi cs in IR , beca u se as a " bounded
the n ation -s tate excl ud es oth e rs and in-
co mmuni ca tions needed fo r th e ac hie ve-
ter 1996: 287). The res ult is th at th e Hab-
ry tends to " refle c t a ge n e ra l lef t-!ib era l
i), and it sha res w ith lib e ra l plu ra h sm an
. he nation -s tate . Th e varia nt propo sed by
eco nomics as the pote ntial s ite for change
iants of cri tica l th eo ry have co ntinu ed to
j class in provid in g alternati ve answers for
vithin a neo- Mar xian framewo rk . .
. I S

chat has retain ed a foc u s on eco ~omics d
discusse d in C hapte r 7. l a lo ng w ith worl
Postmodernism and Crit ical Theory
sys tem theo ry. Th e difference this alte rnative focus can m
ake fo r critica l the-
ory an alys is is str ikin g. Whi le th e Habermas ian variant foc
uses on co mmu -
nicat ion a nd di sco urse, the hi stor ica l ma teria list varia nt
focuses on " th e ef-
fects o f the g loba liza tion o f re lations o f prod uct ion and
the linkaoes of elites
. 0
111 core and pe riph ery on th e di str ibution of the wo rl d 's
wea lth " (Linklat er
1996: 287). In seeki ng to ident ify and prom o te the pote ntia l
site s for c hange,
the Haber m as ian variant focu ses on unrestra ined co mmuni
ca tion .s, whil e the
hi stor ica l mate ri alism va r ian t e nco u rages co un ter hege
m o nic po li tica l and
soc ia l m oveme nt s. Yet ult ima te ly these differ e nt va ri a
nt s ma y be unit ed
und er th e sam e criti ca l theory umb re lla, beca use they s
hare th e sa me th eo-
re tica l and pra ctica l goa l. That goa l, acco rdin g to Linkl
ater, is " to iden ti fy
the source s of pote n tia lly far- reac hin g c ha nge so th at
human s ubj ec ts ca n
gra s p th e poss ib ility of a lte rnat ive pa th s of hi s torica l
deve lop me nt whi ch
can be exp lored through co llec tive political ac tio n " (1996:
283-284).

T hi s is a lso why crit ica l th eory and post m ode rni s m mu
st be kept d is-
tinct , desp ite their ma ny attribut es in com m on . Pos tm
odern ism esc hews
cri tica l theo ry's goa ls and is par t ic ularly s kep tica l of
Haber mas's notio n of
unco nstrained co mmunic ations. From a postmodern pers
pective, all conve r-
sati on is a power stru gg le to impo se mean ing , a nd it is no t
poss ibl e to move
beyo nd thi s to a place un tai nt ed by powe r. In o rder to circ
um ve nt the po wer
stru gg le in th e ir ow n writin gs, postmodern ists seek alternat
ive m et hodolo -
gies and presenta tion sty les. T h is can m ake po s tm ode rn
IR an alysis ap pea r
strange to th e posit iv is t, who wo uld expec t analy s is to
iden tify pot ential
causa l va ri ab les, chart pos s ib le ca usa l linka ges, present
factua l ev id e nce,
and provide co ncl us ion s abo u t wh ich var iabl es prov ed
most exp lan ato ry.
Instea d pos tmodern IR seeks to s hake th e reader 's expec
tation s, appear
stran ge in order to ex pose co mpl ace nc ies, and focu s on th e
di sc on tinuiti es
of di sc ur sive s tru ctur es to reve a l forced marginali za tions.
It may a lso foc us
on what the po s itivist wo uld co ns ide r tri via l or unr e lated
to IR , s uc h as s py
nove ls, footba ll, defe nse m anu als, Star Trek , and oth er e
lemen ts of popular
cultur e. 6 In an appro ac h th at views eve rything as a tex t and
a ll texts as in-
terco nn ected, 7 s uc h topi cs a llow us to see lin kage s th at
are un exam in ed

(metap h9rs of wa r use d in spo rt s, fo r exa mpl e), to turn
meanin g up s id e
down , and " reread " w hat we take for gra nt ed (why do we
equate wa r w ith
sport?) .
A lthough th ey too seek to unp ac k meanin g, the me th od o
logy of c riti ca l
theori sts is no t nearl y as radica l as pos tm odern is m g iven
its differ ent goa ls .
And criti ca l th eor is ts are of te n c rit ica l of postmodern ism
for its "rad ical
openn ess th at cuts out the gro und o n wh ich to s tand in maki
ng a c ritiqu e or
looking for progre ss" (R engger and Thirke ll-Whit e 2007: 15).
Yet desp ite
these criti c ism s and d ifference s , th e practitio ners of these
approache s in IR
have tend ed to a lly th em se lve s in orde r to hi g hli g ht th e
ir difference s with
the rest of th e di sc ip lin e. Th eir intr odu ct io n in to th e di
sc ip lin e during th e
Pc
sci,
I g
hola
am
an ic
L,
;

o
ber
ed
ne
ts
s
ev
I
r
.
i
ature
A shl ey 1988; Bartelson
Edkin s, Pin-Fat , and Shapiro
1993; and C. Weber
178 Postmodern and Critical Theory Approache s
1980s was by no me an s a co ng e ni a l affai r, involving a "
pos t-s tructurali st
guerril la war agai n s t the 's ystem "' (Wre ve r 1996 : 169),
acco mp a ni ed by
equally vehement po s itivi st reaction s, so that " not so long
ago mental flak
jacket s were de rigueur if one so mu ch as utter ed the 'P-word '
among IR
sc holar s " ( De r Deria n 1997: 57 ). Thi s overt ho stili t y has
dec lin ed over
time, in part beca use co nstructivi sm 's combination of po stpo
sit ivist in sig hts

with th e di sc ipline' s pr e ferred epi stemolog y ha s m ade the
for mer a more
acceptab le alternative to the theor etica l main s tream . It is
probabl y th e case,
then, tha t postpo s itiv is t approaches s uch as po stmoderni sm
and critical the-
ory are a lready having a s ignifi ca nt but implicit imp act o n
IR th eo ri sts in
the making.
1B Further Reading
Richard K. Ashley is one of th e be st-known postmod ern IR
scholar s (see
1996 , 1987 , 1984), particularly for hi s ea rly postmodern c
ritique s of Kenneth
Wa ltz 's theor y of neor ea lism . Two other po s tmod ern sc
holar s w ho se work
has bee n particularl y sem inal are R. B. J . Walker ( 1993,
1987) and James Der
Derian ( 1997, 1989). Der Derian 's edited volume Internati onal
Theory: Crit-
ical Inve stig ations ( 1995a) juxtapo ses we ll-known arti c les
in lR (by both
po s itivi s ts and po s tpos itivists) th at co llec ti ve ly demon s
trat e the concern s of
postmodern ism and the English School di sc usse d in Chapt e r
9. I .
Other exa mp les of po s tmod e rn IR scholarship include Alker
1996;
C ampbell J992 ; Conno lly 2002 ; Dillon and Reid 2009; Edki n
s 1999;
George 1994 ; Jabri 20 10; B. Kle in 1994; Luke 1993 ; Shapiro
1987 ; and
Shinko 20 12, 2008. Some feminist sc ho lar s , suc h as V.
Spike Pet e rs on and

Christine Sylvester, work with a po stmod ern or cri tica l pers
pective, but are
di sc us sed in Chapter 8. 1 in stea d . Other IR scholar s whose
w ritin gs might
be cha ra cte rize d as po stmodern , s uch as Roxanne Dot y,
Janice Bially Mar-
tern, Iver Neumann, Jutt a Weld es , and Frank e Wilm er, are
cited in Chapter
5 . 1. In both cases, th e ir plac e ment in other sec tions is not
definitive and
might vary according to th e diff e re nt anal ytica l cr iteria of
o th e r author s.
Edit e d vo lum es 6f postmodern IR include Der Deri an and
Shapiro
1989 , J arvis 2002, and Shapiro and Alker 1996. There are a lso
several no-
table s pec ial journal iss ues de vo ted to po s tm odernism,
including a "dis si-
dent " iss ue of lm erna tional Studies Quart erly (A s hle y and
Walker 1990a,
1990b ), a s pe c ial iss ue of Mill ennium titled " Im ages and N
arratives in
World Politi cs" (2001 ), and th e ·'Critiquin g Lib era lis m "
(20 12) issue of
J ournal of International Relations and Deve lopmem . Th e
postmo dern liter-
on sove reignty is con s iderable, but particularl y se m inal
piece s include
1995; Biersteker and Weber I 996; Campbell 1993;
2004 ; Inaya tull ah and Blane y 2004 ; Walker
1995 . For background on pos tmod ern ism as it relates
to IR and the s ocial

as well as Hol linger
Among IR sc
Linkl ater 's work is
exa mpl es of thi s p
Hoffm a n 1987; M.
2001 , 20 I 2 ; Sam hat
work of sc hol ars wh
variant , s uch as Ro
in Chapter 7 . I . Two
together are Wyn J o
A number of tex
ory, including Edk in
a special iss ue of R
Thirk ell-White (2007)
theory in ge neral, see
On the relati onshi
Agger 199 J, Duvall a
Kellner 1989 . Semin
angelou and Ling 200
Ling 2002, Nayak and
suggestions may be fo
The epi ste molo g
for the di sciplin e have
sues, suc h as M il/enni
tions " ( 1988); Int ern,
Debate" ( 1989), whicl
companying arti c les t
Jim George ( 1989): a
logue and Synth es is P
A variety of ot her sou
Biersteker 1984; Boo,
1988; Holli s and Smi r

Smith, Booth , and Za
I Notes
I. This can obvio,
"many authors in the fi
from lhe Frankfurt Schc
positivist theories, such
ready using the term "p
becapitalized here ahh
spective to which Dunn
:al Theory Approache s
affair, invo lv ing a "pos t-st ru c turali s t
(Wrever 1996: 169 ), accompa ni ed b y
;, so that " not so lo ng ago me ntal flak
1ch as utt ered the ' P- wo rd ' amo n g IR
'his overt ho stilit y h as decl ined over
, combinati on of postpositiv ist insight s
emolo gy has mad e the fo rm e r a more
:a l main stream. It is probab ly the case,
.uch as po stm odemi sm and crit ical the-
but impli c it impact on IR theori s ts in
st-known po stm odern IR sc hola rs (see
is early postmodern cri tiques of Kenneth
other postmodern sc hol ars who se work
B. J. Walker (1993 , 1987) and Jame s Der
j ited volume Internationa l Theor y: Crit -
ses well-known article s in IR (by both
:ollec tively demon strat e the conc erns of
ool discusse d in Chapter 9 . l.
:n IR sc hol arship includ e Alker 1996 ;

Dillon and Rei d 2009 ; Edk in s 1999 ;
n 1994 ; Luk e 1993 ; Shapiro 1987; and
scholars , such as V. Sp ike Pete rso n and
istmodern or c ritic al pers pecti ve, but are
)t her IR scho lars wh ose wr itin gs might
,ch as Roxa nn e Doty, Jani ce Bia lly M at-
and Franke Wi lmer , are c ited in Chapter
it in oth e r sec tion s is no t definiti ve and
~nt analy tica l crit er ia of other author s ..
:rn IR incl ud e Der Deri an and Shapir o
d Alker 1996. Ther e are a lso seve ral no-
~d to po stmod e rni sm , including a "d issi-
es Quar terly (As hley and Walk e r 1990~,
nnium titl ed " Im ages and Narratives JO
"Critiquing Lib e rali sm" (2 01 2) iss u~ of
: and Deve lopm ent . Th e pos tmodern hter-
•le bu t particularl y se min al pieces include
:rs,teker and Web er 199?; Ca mpb e ll i 993;
)4; Ina yatullah a nd Blaney 2004'. Walker
ickground on po s tm ode rni sm as it relates
Postmodernism and Critical Theory 179
to IR and the s ocial sc ie nces more gene rally, see P. Rose nau
1990 and 1992
as well as Ho llinger I 994 . '
. Among IR sc hol ars who s ub sc rib e to a H abe rm as ian
critical theo ry,
Link late r 's wo rk is among the be s t known ( I 998, I 996,
1992, 1990). Oth e r
exan:ip les of this par ticu lar variant of cr itica l theo ry
include Bayn es 1994;
H offman l 987; M. Lync h 2002; Mit ze n 2005; Ne ufe ld
1995; R . Pa y ne

200 I , 20 12 ; Sa mhat and Payne 2003; Ri sse 2000; and Roa
ch . 2012. Th e
work of sc ho lars who s ub sc r ibe to c riti ca l th eo ry's hi s
tori ca l ma teriali s m
vari ant , s uch as Ro bert Cox , Ste phe n G ill , and C raig
Murphy , is di sc usse d
in C hapter 7. I. Two ed ited vol um es that brin g prac titi o ner
s of both va riants
toge ther are Wy n Jone s 200 1 and Bri nca t, Lim a, and N un
es 2012 .
A numb er of texts als o eva luate c ritical theory's co ntribu
tion to IR the-
ory, inclu d ing Edkin s and Vaughan-Wil liams 2009, Hamat i-
A taya 20 12 , a nd
a s_pecia l iss_ue of R eview of International SlLidies ed ited
by Re ngger and
Thirk e ll-W h1te (2007). For background on the Frankfurt
Schoo l and cri tical
theory in ge neral, see Bronn er 1994 , He ld 198 0 , and Wigger
sh aus 1994. -
On the re lation ship between pos tm ode rni sm and c ritica l
theor y, cons ult
Agger l 99 l , Du vall and Varadarajan 2012 , George an d
Campbell 1990, and
Ke llne r 1989. Seminal exa mpl es of postco lo n ia lism IR
includ e Agath-
an ge lo u and Ling 2005, Beie r 2005 , Chowd hr y and Na ir
2002 , Jabri 2012 ,
Ling 2002 , Nayak and Se lbi n 20 I 0, and Sa lte r 2002.
Additiona l postcoloni al
sugges tions may be fou nd in the Furth e r Read ing sect io n of
Chapter 8. 1.
Th e e pis temo logica l iss ues tha t these po s tpos it iv ist

approache s rai se
for the disc ip line have bee n co ns ide re d in a num be r o f
spec ial IR journ al is-
sues, s uch as Mill enn ium 's " Phil osop h ica l Tradition s in
Int ernation al Rela -
tions" ( 1988); International S tud ies Quar terly's " Exc h ange
on the Th ird
Debate" ( l 989), which co ntain s Yosef Lap id 's "t hird debat
e" arti cle and ac-
compan ying art icle s by Ka i Hol s ti ( l 989), Th o ma s B iers
te ker (I 989) , and
Jim Geo rge ( 1989); and the Internati on al S tudies R eview fo
rum " Are Dia -
logue and Sy nth esis Po ss ib le in Int ern ationa l Re latio ns?"
(Hell mann 2003 ).
A vari ety of o ther sources exp lore this top ic, s uc h as A Iker
l 996 ; A lke r and
Bie rs teker 1984; Booth and Smith 1995; Crawfor d and Jar vis
2000 ; Geor ge
1988; HoJlis and Sm ith 1990; Sjoland er and Cox 1994; S.
Smith 2002; and
Smith , Booth , and Zal ews ki 1996.
• Notes
l. Th is ca n ob v iou s ly ge nera te som e conf us io n. a nd T
im Dunn e n otes th a t
"many a uth ors in the fie ld draw a di s tin c tion be tween Cri
ti cal T heo ry desce nd ed
from _the Fra nkfort Sc hool , and c r itica l th eo ries referri ng
to a ra nge of a nti- or post-
pos1t1v1s1 theo ries, suc h as femini sm and post m oderni s m
" (200 1: 73). Si nce I am a l-
ready us i~g 1he 1erm "pos 1posi ti vis m" for the lauer purpo
se, c ritic al theo ry w ill not
be cap ita lized here, a lthough its usage is mea n t to indi c aie

the Frankfurt School per-
spective to wh ic h Dunn e refe rs .
,
10
I de
ts
1h:
f
t
"v
b,
t
1
2. In a dditi on to Agger·~ ( 1991 ) acc essi ble d iscuss ion of
the !>imi larities and
differ e nces be t wee n c riti ca l th eory. po sts t ruc tura l is
m. and postmodernism. sec Call -
inic os 1985 and G eo rge and Ca mpb ell 1990. Sec also
Rosemary Shi nko's di sc us s ion
of thi s topi c at the s tart of C h apt e r 6.2.
3. How th e stud y of IR var ies com para11vely in different n
ational e11in gs, as

we ll a s w ha t diff ere nce US h egemo n y makes to IR
theorizing. ha s been exam ined
by R . Crawford 2000, Crawfo rd and Jarvi s 2000. Tic kn er
2003, Wa:.ver 1998. and S.
Smith 2002.
4. In ove rv iews of di sc iplin a ry hi story . th e fi rst deba te
is usua l ly iden tified as
occu rrin g in th e 1920s a nd 1930s betw een ideal is m and rea
li sm . w ith the la1ter
e me rg ing as v ic tori ou s . Th e seco nd debat e occ urred in
the 1950s and 1960s , in volv-
in g m e th odo logical di sag ree men ts over whether to stud y
IR as hi s tor y or a behav-
iora l sc ience, with the latt e r emergi ng as vic torious.
Howeve r. schola rs disag re e
ove r ho w to da te th ese debate s . wha t exactly th e ir sub tan
ce invo lved, o r w hat the ir
o ut co m es were; see, for exam ple, Wa:.ver 1997. 1996: Kahle
r 1997.
5. As wi th other post po s itiv ist approa c he s . pos tco lon
ialism ·s introduction into
IR has been re la t ive ly rece nt , and much of the ear ly pos
tcolon ial work in the disci-
pline was don e by fem ini t scho lar s. Examples of pos tcolo ni
al IR texts are provided
in th e Furth er Reading~ sec tion of thi s c hapte r. a s well as
in C h a pter 8.1 .
6. See the variou~ con tributi o ns in Der D c rian and Shapir o
1989, ·· Images and
arra t ive s in World Po liti cs· · 2001, and We Ides 2003. Th e
extent to hich modem
tec hno logy mediate s re prese ntati o n is ano th e r subject of

o ngoing inqui ry for post-
mo d e mi sts, since the ma s media ca nn ot s impl) ··report the
new ·· as i f it were out
the re to be objectively discovered. b ut rely o n discursive prac
tices to convey mean-
ing a n d create the '· new~" ins tead. S imilarly the use of mode
rn tec hn o logy in war
ha s become a s ubs titut e rather than fac ilitat or for the activi
ty. so th a t th e b lip s on a
co mput e r scree n n ow d e termine what v ic t ory mean for
com batant s o n th e batt le-
fie ld . From a p os tmod e rn per specti ve thi s ha s produced a
cr is is of represe nt at ion, in
whic h " th e realitie s o f wor ld po liti cs inc reasing ly are ge
nerated. me diated, even
s imul a te d by s uccess ive tec hni ca l mean s o f reproduc t
ion. further dis tancing them
fr o m so m e or ig ina l and ulti mately my thi ca l meaning ·· (
Der D eria n 199 7: 57; see
al so Deibe rt 1997 a nd Der De rian 200 I. I 992).
7. Or as Paul ine Ro se na u put s it. ··po st -moderni s m is
text-cente red a nd , in the
ex t reme. a ll th e wo rld is a text: a li fe expcrien ce, a po l
itica l ral ly. an e lec tion , nego-
tiatin g a tr ea ty. a pe rso nal relationship, a vaca tion. buying a
ca r. see kin g a job-all
a re tex ts. Even speec h is a~signed th e s ta tu s of text"· (
1990: 88).
Post
Roserr
The first issue
poststru ctura/ism
tions theo ry. 1

retical approach
cept s, and tex
patterns of thouol
about things 0
on its theo retical
ings where 1hou
discipl ine ii. Th
modern wri1er
what will have
Most studen
and inquir y tha1
1hought and crea
theory of IR, bur
resists atcempts
attention 10 the
proaches rely ur
genealogy ( iet:
erate to destabil
principles upon
been based.3
In pan wha1
proaches to 1he
perhaps even m
of scholar s like
and Derr ida, a1
and/or problem~
biopower to sup
understand ho'-'
tional," while[,
Levinas to forrr
an "ethics of en
This pa t1e1
scholarship.~ Tl

concept of hun
how it has bee
,I Theory Approaches
0 al-Qaeda we re neve r demon str ~ted
the time give n the terror ist orgam~a-
ular strongmen like Sadd am Hu sse m.
t Attacks upon the Unit ed Sta tes (~he
ingly that it "fo und no 'c o llaborative
da" (Pin cus and Milbank 2004).
onsensual and leg itim at e norms and
: disc ur sive de mo c racy in a publi c
·en publi c de libe ration can be po lluted
ortant also to con sider the ro le of so-
1ing soc ial und e rstanding s. From fall
:a de anti war voices chall e nged estab -
conduc ting a "wa r on terrori sm." T his
e on the or igina l de c ision to attack
,otent forc e in the bui ldup to the Ir aq
tually re flected in the major it y of pub-
nistration not acted arbitrari ly to attack
;s force of the be tter argum e nt" co uld
r words, the outco me wo uld have been
discussion of the issues.
odes for her researc h assis tance. .
Id Woodward, "I don ' t ha ve th~ ev idence at
utlet, the pundit L auri e Mylroie (2003) lef t
views.
ngs o f Iraq di sarm amen t, d isc usse d below , ,
.i frankly is wron g." .
) cond ucted by Opi ni on D ynrum~s Co~ora-

¼t69 percen t of respo nd ent s b eh ~v_ed Ir aq
,ly choices were yes, no , or no opi~ ion.
on domest ic politi cs and do not di scuss the
,te~.. l'ke Amsterda m Bar ce lona, Berlin , r citie s i ,
)fthe frame's source ( Druckman 2~01)_.
y diff icult for gove rnm ent s to mamtam se-
ged prewa r links betw ee n a1-9aeda and Iraq
but ap peared alm ost immedi ately o n a blog
-~oadcast in g Corpora tion (ABC) News.
7
Historical Materialism
and World System Theo·ry
Approaches
Historical Materialism and
World System Theory
Jennife r Sterling-Folker
As with crit ica l theor y, hi sto ri ca l ma te ri ali sm and wo rld
sys te m theo ry
(WST ) are neo -Ma rxian perspect ives . "Hi stori ca l materi
ali sm" is a te rm
drawn dir ec tly from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels, alth ough
some of th is approac h 's IR adhe rents refer to it as " tran shi
stor ica l mat er ia l-
ism" inste ad.' Within the discipline it is co nsidered a variant
of crit ical the-
or y, and, as di sc ussed in C hap te r 6. 1, it shares w ith Hab e
rma sian critical
theor y the sam e episte mologi ca l commitments, as we ll as

the same ema nc i-
patory goa ls. Yet histo ric al mat e ri a lism diffe rs dramatica
lly from tha t
branc h of critica l theo ry beca use it re ta ins the Mar xist emp
has is on ca pita l-
ist eco nomics. Beca use this is also ce ntra l to WST , it is co
mmon in IR for
histor ical materia lism and WST to be di sc ussed together und
er a gener ic
"Mar xist" labe l.2
Prior to the end of the Cold War, Marx ist IR variant s wer e
usuall y char-
acterized as th e third major theo retica l pe rspect ive in th e
US di sc ipli ne,
along w ith rea li sm and lib era lism. Yet Marxist thou ght was
relat ivel y un-
derdeve loped in the ea rly disc ip lin e of IR in the Un ited
States, a nd it was
primari ly soc iologists co mmitt ed to interd isc ip linar y work
who introdu ced
WST into the di sc iplin e in the 1970 s. Histori ca l mater
ialism ap peare d in the
follow ing decad e and its pr imar y con trib uto rs were those
no t from the
hlnited States . Beca use historica l mate ri alism has a slight ly
shorte r compar-
ative history within the dis c ipline, it is so metimes given short
shrift in dis·-
ciplinary discu ssions of ne o-Marx ist IR, w hich te nd to
assume tha t WST is
its only repre se ntative. Certa inl y it is the case that the two
perspective s re ly
on and utilize a com mon se t of ass um ptions and c onc e pt s
so th at their

217

218 Historical Materialism and World System Theory App
roaches
ana lyses may be co mp lementary, as the two chap te rs in thi
sec tion demon-
s trate . Ye t imp ort ant d ifference s re main , a nd it is more
appro pri ate to co n-
s ider his tori ca l mate ri a lism and wo rld sys te m theo ry to
be broadly s imil ar
but ultim ate ly alternative neo- Mar x ist ex planat io ns.
What the two pe rs pectives s h are is a se t of ass umpti o ns
drawn from
Marx ist thought that e mpha s izes eco no mi c c hange as the
driving force o f
wor ld po litics. On e of the mo s t fundamental co nce pts in thi
s regard is the
" mode of produ ction ," th at is, how hum a n labor is co ntr o
lled to produce
what is need ed for s ur viva l (Wa llers te in 1979: 155, 136) .
Thi s " determine s
the natur e of soc ial a nd political relation s w ith in politica l
entiti es and
amon g them," so that "w hen a new mod e of production de ve
lop s, new
c la sses a ri se, and a new c lass beco me s dominant" (Z a cher
a nd Matthew
1995: 108). Altern ative mode s of production ex is ted throu
gho ut history , but
a numb e r of factors beg inn ing in the fiftee n th ce ntur y

allowed he cap italis t
mod e to gradu ally displace all o thers. Bot h hi s to rica l mat
eria lism and WST
utili ze the co ncep t of a world cap italis t sys tem in referr ing
to the contempo-
rar y g lo bal dominance of ca pitali s m , a nd bo th arg ue th at
IR ca n on ly be
sufficiently und e rs tood w ithin the context of thi s sys tem .
Ca pit a lis m has
produced notab le a spec ts of wo rld poli tics today, such as
ongoing economic
dispariti es among nati o n-s ta tes a nd the wi ll ingne ss of the
eco nomi ca lly ad-
va ntaged to resort to viol ence, or exp lo itation by o ther mea
ns, to maintain
tho se adva ntages.
As a mode of pro duction ca pitali s m invo lves th ree bas ic e
leme nts: mar-
ke t exc hanges, the po lit ica l and s ocia l e leva tion of those
wit h ca pit al to in-
ves t in va ri ous ma rket ventur es, and the politica l and socia l
sub ordination
o f those w ho lab or to produce the goods in tho se ve ntu res.
The capita list
mod e of production co ncurr e ntl y produce s a n ideo logy that
jus tifi es itself
as appropriate and beneficial to all involved, eve n as it
primarily serves the
interest s of the d o minant , ca pit a lis t c lass. Thi s rulin g
ideo logy o r socia l
co nscious ness is s upp orte d by and rep lica ted in a ho st of
politi cal, lega l, re-
lig io us, mora l, philo so ph ica l, and c ultural insti tut ions
and soc ia l pra ctices.
The se institution s and practice s co n stitute wh at the his to

rica l materia list lit-
erai·ure refer s to as a " historic bloc," a nd the goa l of revealin
g thi s bloc as a
his torically s ituat e d soc ial co n s tru c t, rather th a n a uni
ve rsa l immutable
truth , is one th at his tor ica l ma te ri a li s m s h ares w ith c
riti ca l theo ry and
po s tmod e rni s m . [n co ntra s t to so me other IR theo ries,
the n , the sove reign
nati o n-sta te is not the ce ntr al unit of ana lys is in e ither of
these pers pect ives,
and as Pa ul Vio tti and Ma rk Kaup p i n o te, it become s s
ignific ant o nly " from
the ro le it play s in act ive ly aid ing o r hind er ing the capita
lis t accumulation
pro cess" ( 1999: 344) .
Whil e hi storical mater ialism and WST re tain the Marx ist ass
umption
that ca pit alis m lea ds inev itabl y to ex ploit atio n and cla ss
stru gg le, they have
also deve lo ped modifi ed v iews of c lass s truct ure tha t are
more approp riate
219
rid System Fheory Approaches
1e two cha pters in thi s sec tion dem o n-
1in, and it is mor e appropr iat e to con-
d sys tem th eo ry to be broadly s imilar
L ex plan atio ns .
! is a se t of assumpt io ns drawn from
,nomic change as th e driving forc e of
amental concepts in thi s regard is the

human labor is controlled to produ ce
ein 1979: 155, 136). Thi s " determine s
elation s w ithin politi ca l e ntiti es and
1 mod e of production deve lops, new
n es dominant " (Zacher and Matthew
duction existed throu ghout hi s tory , but
fifteenth century allowed the ca pitali st
. Both hi sto rica l mat er ia lism and WST
st system in referring to the contempo-
1, and both argue th a t lR ca n onl y be
:ontext of thi s sys tem. Capitalism ha s
,litics today, such as ongo in g eco nomic
he willin gness of the eco nomi ca lly ad-
ploitation by other mea n s, to maintain
ism involve s three ba sic elem en ts: mar-
al elevation o f tho se w ith capit al to in -
I the politi cal and soc ial sub o rdi~ati?n
,oo ds in tho se ventur es . The captta h st
'.oduces an id eo logy that ju s tifi es itself
nvo lved , even as it primaril y se rves the
t cl ass. Thi s rulin g id eo logy o r soc ial
:plicated in a host of po liti~al, lega l.' re-
Jltu ra l in stitution s and so cial practtce s .
;titut e what the hi sto ri ca l mat e ri alis t lit -
, and the goal of revea ling thi s blo c as a
ict, rather than a uni versa l immut ab le
1alism s hares w ith c riti ca l th eo ry and
! ot her IR th eo ries, th e n , the sove reign
· analy sis in e ither of these perspectives,
note, it beco mes s ignificant on ly " from
ir hindering the cap italist acc umulation
nd WST re tain th e Marxi st as s umption
xploitati o n and cla ss struggle, th ey h~ve

:lass structur e th at ar e more appropnate
Histori cal Materi alism and World System Theory
to the s tud y of _IR . Although in debted to the wr it i ngs of
Marx a nd Enge ls
for man y o f their co re conc ept s, it was late r write rs in the
Marx is t tradi tion
s ue~ as John Hobso n, Rosa Lu xe m bo urg, Rudol f Hilferding
, and Vlad imi;
Lenin , who considered h ow ca pitali sm promot ed " imperi a
lis m " in IR as a
fo rm of tran snational ex ploit a tion . Imp e riali s m is endem
ic to the capitalist
world sys_tem , these author s arg ued, bec a use capitali st soc
iet ies regu larl y
face the dilemma of over produ c tio n of cap ital by the cap ital
is t class and un-
de rcon s umpti on o f g?ods by _the lowe r c lasses (who ca nn
o t affo rd to pur-
cha se th e m) . Thi s dil emma mdu ces cap ita list soc iet ies to
seek mark ets
abroad to re in ves t s urplu s ca pit a l and prom ote the bu y
ing of s urplu s good s,
yet the te rm s of int erac tion are never equ itab le. While
resort ing to outrioht
c_onquest re main s an o ption for ca pit a lis t socie ties, the n
atur e of ex ploi~a-
'.10~ tra ns nat io nal all ia nces among -ha s beco me m ore s
ubtl e, involving cap
itali st cla sses and a re liance on IFi s, such as th e IMF a nd
the World Bank
to enforce the inter es ts of wea lth y ca pit alis t soci et ies
around the globe (G iti
1998, I 995).

. Im_per ial'.s ~ ca n a lso lead to interna tional ri va lry and co
nfli ct among
ca pitali st soc1et1es, as they co mp ete wit h o n e ano th er for
dominance in a l-
ternativ e markets and reg ion s . Thi s o ngo ing impetus for
balan ce-o f- po wer
pol itics preve nt s the deve lopm e nt of a unified world s ta te
or the return to
wo rld empir es . It is po ss ible, howeve r, for a core s tate to
emerge as a hege -
mon that , for a ce rta in pe riod of time, can "es tablish the rule
s of the gam e
in th e inte rsta te system " ( Walle rs te in 2004: 5 8) . Sim ilar
to the liberal va ri-
ant of hege monic s tabilit y th eo ry re feren ce d in Chapter 3
.1, histo rica l ma -
terial ism and WST argue that a hege mon has the abi lity to
impo se its eco-
nomic, politi ca l, and c ultural prefe re nces on the world sys
tem. 3 Thi s a bility
is cont inu a lly tax ed and re la ti ve ly s hort -li ved, howeve r,
g iven co ns tant
press ure from ongoing imper ialist riva lries. The se are the
themes of Chap-
ter 7.2, in which Alan Cafr uny and Timoth y Lehmann a rg ue
th at the US in -
vas io n of Ir aq should be under s to od in th e co nte x t o f
core s ta te r iva lry in
the Middl e Ea s t. Dri ve n by imp er ial is t com pe ti t ion, th
e Unit ed State s in-
vaded Iraq as a mean s to ex tend its hege moni c reach in the
Midd le East and
deny its rival s great er access to the reg ion.
Becau se the con cep t of imp er iali s m rema ins fundamental
to both hi s -

tor ical mat e ri a lis m and WST , these perspec tives are in te
res ted in re lation s
betwee n wea lth y ca pit a lis t s oci et ies and the res t of th e
globe. Within th e
di sc iplin e th e ir ana ly tica l pr edecesso r is depen d en cy
theo ry, whi c h o rig i-
nated in the l960 s to exp la in wh y Latin Am e rica a nd ot her
reg ions had no t
developed as anticip ated .4 For all of the se theo ries, the exp
lanat ion fo r the
continu ed po ve rty of so m any of th e world's nati o n -s tates
lies not in:
pro cesses and c hoic es pur ely int e rn a l to nat io n- s tates an
d th ei r s ocieties
?ut in th e pos itio n th ey occ upy w ithin the world capi tal is t
economy. His tor ~
ica l mat e ria lis m and WST per spec tives also co nc ur that
wor ld polit ic s is
o
p
1
i
s
i,
i
t<
r

220 Histori cal Material ism and World System Theory
Approaches
driven by capitali st eco nomic forces, and that '"econom ic ex
plo itation is an
integra l part of the capitali st sys tem and is required to keep it
functioning·'
(Yiotti and Kauppi 1999: 349) .
Whil e altern ative terms such as "Nort h" and "So uth " or "fi
rst world"
and "thi rd wor ld" ha ve been used in IR to indi cate the divis
ion between
rich and poor societies, WST has de ve loped a set of terms that
is frequent ly
used by scholars of both perspectives. The cap italist world
syste m is sa id to
consist of core, periphera l, and semi peripheral areas that differ
acco rding to
their modes o f labor co ntrol and what they spec ialize in prod
uc ing. The
core areas are the most advanced econom ica lly, and hence they
are the most
prosperou s and powerful. The peripheral areas prov ide unskil
led labo r and
raw mater ials to the core and are the poore st and weakes t. The
semipe riph-
eral areas occup y a middle ground between the two and have a
co mbination
of econo mic, po litical, and soc ial attri butes from bot h of the
other areas.
Thi s international division of labor derive s from the cease less
acc umulation
of capita l and esse ntially divid es and con quers class interes

ts and structures
both within and across nation-states. The original Mar x ist
formul ation o f a
co mmon interest within relatively separate classes, as wel l as
the inevitabi l-
ity of con flict between these classes and the potential for revol
ution among
the worki ng class specifi ca lly, have been co nsiderably modifi
ed by these
perspectives as a res ult.5
Yet both historica l materiali sm and WST retain a belief in the
poss ibil-
ity of radical change and the even tual demise o f the cap italis t
world order.
Marx and Engels had argued that the mode of produ ction that
dom inates in
eac h period of history, and that hierarchically arrang es its re
leva nt classes,
also ca rrie s the seeds of its own demise. Classes are al ways
arranged di-
alectica lly, so that contradi ctions and tensions are inherent to
their relation-
ship , and from thei r inevitabl e clash new eco nomic orders
emerge. It is a
matt er of time, therefore , befo re the capit alist mode of produ
ction and the
world eco nomy it has spawned will be rep laced. Histor ica l
mate rialists and
wor ld sys tem theoris ts subscribe to this general view of the
futur e, yet each
has made considerab le ana lytical modifi cation s to it so that
the possibilities
of change within and of the world capit al ist sys tem are mor e
open -ended,
varied in content, and less deterministic. It is also at this junctu

re that clear
differe nces beg in to eme rge between these two pers pec tives,
s ince histori-
cal materiali sts subscribe to critica l theory's goal of
emancipatory practice
in a way that world system theori sts do not.
As a variant of critical theory, historica l materia l ism is co nce
rned with
uncovering historica lly situated truth claims to rev ea l th eir
embedded
power and promot e ema nci pation from them. Unlike Habe rma
sian critical
theo ry, however, it is not a direct ana lytica l desce ndant of
the Frankfurt
Schoo l. In fact , in his ove rview of these two var iants,
Richard Wy n Jones
obse rves that Antonio Gram sc i, the Italian Mar xist, is just as
impor tant a
writer t
Theodor
ars" (2001
ca l theori
sometime:
the conce
ness and
how g lob
which is
"global gc
between
tively obs
state and
omy, his
separatio
serious an

From
lition, tha
obstacle t
and social
more equi
rorical ma
ciety, and
can sounc:
materialis
cal mover
ductio n."
ments anc
world eco
This <
political c
wh ich ren
of the con
the praxis
the chang,
other wo,
changes s
era! to co1
and contr;
variation
discount 1
world-sys
that histo
·Id System Theory Approaches
and th at "e co nomi c e xpl o itation is an
,nd is requir e d to keep it functionin g"

" North" and "South" or " fir s t world '.
1 IR to indicat e the divi s ion be tween
eloped a set of term s th at is fr~qu~ntl y
. Th e capitali st world syste m 1s said to
,eripheral area s that differ acc~rding to
,at they specialize in producing. Th e
nomically , and he nc e the y are the mo st
ieral area s provide un skill e d labor and
poorest and weake st. Th e semiperi~h -
!tween the two and have a combination
ttributes from both of th e oth e r ar eas.
,eri ve s from th e cease less ac cumulati o n
l co nquer s cla ss inter es ts a nd st~ucture s
. The original Marxi s t formulatto~ o~ a
:parate cla ss es, a s well a s the _inev1tab1l -
and the pot e nti al for revo lutton am ong
e been con s ide rably modified b y th ese
a nd WST re tain a belief in th e po ss ibil-
Ja l demise of th e capitali st world order .
ie mode of production th at dominate s in
rarchi cally arran ge s it s re le va nt cla sse~,
emi se. Cla ss es are alway s arranged d1-
1d tensions are inh e rent to th e ir re lation-
sh new ec onomic order s em e rg e . It is a
ie c apita lis t mo de of produ c ti~n ~nd the
1be rep lac ed. Hi storical mat e nalt s ts a nd
> thi s general view of the futur e, y_et_~a_ch
nodification s to it so that the po ss 1b1Jt1es
I ca pitalis t sy stem are more op e n- e nd e d ,
ni stic. It is also at thi s junctur e that cl e~r
!en these two pe rs pectiv es , s ince hi sto_n -

al theory 's goal of eman c ipator y pra c tice
;ts do not. .
historical materi a li sm is co nce rn e d w ith
, truth claim s to reveal their e mbedd e d
t from them. Unlike Hab e rma s ian critic a l
;t analytical d es cendant o f the Frankfurt
)f these tw o v a ri ant s , Ri c h a rd Wy n Jone s
the Italian Ma rx ist, is ju st as import a nt a
Hist orical M ate rialism and Worl d System Theory 221
w ri te r to the de ve lop m e nt o f cr it ical th eor y a s are Max
Ho rk he im e r a nd
T heodo r Ado rn o, ye t " th ey do no t , o n th e w ho le , in
fluence the sa me sc ho l-
ar s" (2001: 5).6 Whi le G ra m sc i is not a cen tra l fig ur e to
Haberm as ia n c riti-
cal th eori s ts, hi s w ork is fund a me ntal to hi s to ri ca l m a
te ri al is ts, w ho a re
som e time s re fe rred to as " neo-G ra m sc ia n." It was Gr am
sc i who de ve lope d
the co nce pt o f a hi sto ric bl oc w ith a heg e mon ic gri p o ve
r socia l co nscio us -
ne s s a nd ide ntit y. Buildin g on hi s wo rk , h is to rica l m a
ter ia li s ts in ve s ti ga te
how g lobal c apit a lis m co ns titut es a ma ter ia l a nd idea ti
o nal heoe mon y0 ,
w hic h is so me tim es desc rib e d a s a for m of "d isc ip li na
ry neo libe ra li s m " o r
"g lo ba l gove rn a nce." 7 Thi s hege m ony re lie s on a co m
p lex interr e la tio ns hip
bet wee n ide ntit y, legitim a tin g ide o lo gy , so c iety , an d
th e sta te, a nd it effec -
ti ve ly o bsc ur es c apit a lis m 's inh e ren tly ex p loita tive c
harac ter. Beca use the

state and s oc ie ty c o-c on stitut e one a not he r w ithin th e ca
p ita list w o rld econ-
o m y, hi s to rica l ma te ria li s ts ne ve r s tud y th e m se p a
ra te ly an d co n s ide r the
se p ara ti on of leve ls o f a na lys is s ub sc ribe d to by o th e
r IR th eo rie s t o be a
se rious a na ly tica l flaw.
From Gr a msc i , h istori ca l ma ter ia li s ts a lso tak e se riou
s ly no tion s o f vo-
liti on , that is, the poss ibilit y of re m o v ing th e " hi sto ri c
b loc " as the prim ary
ob s tacl e to e q u itab le soc ia l c hange. By e ncourag ing
com peti ng ideo logies
and soc ial move me nt s, hi sto ri ca l m at e ria lis ts argue it is
possi ble fo r a new,
mo re e quit a ble hi s to ric bl oc to coa le sce . It is fo r th is re
as on tha t ma ny hi s -
to rica l mat e ria li sts a re int e res ted in th e idea of a n e me
rg in g globa l c iv il so -
c ie ty, and th e ir disc uss ion s of soc ial pr a c t ic e s a nd
inte rsubj e c ti ve mea nin gs
c an so und quit e co ns tru c ti v ist. A s Andr ew Li n kla te r
no te s a bout histo rica l
ma te ria lis m , it " e mph as izes the revolt o f th e Th ird
World s tate s a nd po lit i-
cal mo vem e nt s aga ins t th e e ffec ts o f th e g lo baliza ti o
n of re la tion s o f pro-
ducti o n ," a nd it foc uses o n " c o un te r-h ege m on ic state
s an d soc ia l mo ve -
me nt s a nd t he ir ab ilit y to poo l their p o l iti c a l res o urce
s to tra ns form t he
wo rld ec onom y " (l 996: 287) .
Thi s e mph as is on the a cti ve e ncourag e m e n t o f con te m
po ra ry soc ial and

politi ca l c ha nge is one of the w ay s hi sto ric a l m a te ri a
lism di ffe rs from WST ,
whi c h re m a ins, at he art , a stru c tur a l t he ory abo ut the h
is toric al deve lo pm e nt
of the co nt e mp orar y world ord e r.8 T he analyt ical emp
hasis of W S T is not on
the prax is of co nte mp orar y c han ge , o r o n the th ird wo
rld s peci fic ally , but on
the c ha nge s Lo or w ithin th e s tru c tur e of the wo rld capi
ta list sys tem itself . In
othe r word s, wor ld s ys te m th eo ri st s a re in te re s ted in s
tud y ing st ru ct ura l
cha nges suc h as a nation -s ta te 's movem e nt fro m th e cat
ego ry of se mi periph-
eral to co re, o r th e po liti ca l and socia l eff e ct s of capi ta
lis t cy cl e s o f g~ow th
and contra c tio n. Th e res ult is tha t wh ile histo rica l m ate
ria l ism sees " grea te r
vari a tion and flexibilit y w ithin c on te mp orar y ca p ita lism
," WST " te nd s t~
disco unt th e poss ibilit y of ge nuin e libe rat ion fro m ca pi
tali s m , exce pt on a
world- sys te mi c leve l" (Cra ne and Am aw i 1997 : 143) . It
is fo r t h is rea son
tha t hi st ori ca l materi a li s ts c la im WST ha s a "s ys te m -
ma in te nan c e b ias "
c
at
·
222 Historical Mater ialism and World System Theory

Approaches
(Cox with Sinc lair 1996: 87) and. despite sha ring many analy
tica l prem ises,
are c ritica l of it.

Ce rtainly WST has a lways been co mmit ted to under ta nding
world pol-
itics as a sys tem , and so it shares with historical ma terial ism
the co nvic tion
that the standard leve ls of a naly sis, and catego ries such as po
litics, eco nom-
ics, and culture , are indivisible.9 Thu s the st udy of po litical
stru c wre s and
institution s, e thni c ity and race, religion and c ulture, and eve
n the format ion
and structure of househo lds a re exa mined within the co ntext
of the cap italist
world econom y. But WST does not trace its origins to Gramsci
spec ifica lly
o r critica l theory in general , and so it doe s not share
historical materia lism 's
goa ls of prax is, its analytical foc us, or its ep iste molog ical
prefe re nces. It
evo lved in the d isc ipline of soc io logy as a reac tion to
modern izatio n theo ry,
whic h c laimed th at the South 's inabili ty to deve lop was due
to it tradi-
tional cultur es and that it wou ld need to follow a simi la r
developmen t path
as that of the North (see Ros tow 1962 ). WST instead pos ited
that it was the
capi talist divi sion of the world that acco unted for the South's
eco nomic , po-

liti ca l, and soc ia l plight. Th e developmen t of WST is
particula rly indeb ted
to the work o f soc iologi st Immanu el Wal lers tei n. and many
worl d sys tem
theor ists co ntinu e to stradd le the interdi sc iplinar y line
betwee n soci olo gy
and IR.
The res ult is that world system theo rists are not po !positiv
ists and do
not share hi storical mate ria lism ' e pis temo logy, whic h
Robe rt Cox de-
sc ribe s as "d ia lec tical in its exp lanation of c han ge . and he
rme neutic insofar
as it inqui res into purposes and meanings" (Cox with Sinclair
1996: 5 14).
wo rld sys tem theo rists remain comm itted to a posi tivist e
pistemo logy and
me thodolog ies, and they argue that the soc ial c ie nces m ight
serve as a ve-
hicle for sys temic c hange if interdi sc iplin ary ba rrie rs ca n
be ove rco me to
und e rstand the world sys te m i11 its hi torica l totali ty. The
ir e mp hasi s on
deep histor ica l co ntex t is yet anothe r way the ir schola rshi p
is different from
histo rical mate ria lism. wh ic h, like other neo-Marxis t
perspec tives, tends to
foc us on the co ntemporar y wo rld o rde r.
wo rld sys tem theo rists arg ue that it is on ly possi ble to under
stand the
wo rld sys te m 's curre nt structure by traci ng its historical evo
lutio n since the
tr ansition from fe uda lism to capitalis m in the six tee nth ce
ntur y. Some

world system theor ists have pushed historica l ana lys is back
even further, so
tha t the g lobal eco nomy of the th irteen th and fou rteen th ce
nturi es is exam-
ined to unde rstand Europe 's subseq uent rise to the co re (A
bu-Lug hod 1989;
Frank 1998 ). Even more far-reac hi ng are c la ims that the
world sys tem per-
spec tive ca n be app lied to preca pita list worlds (C ha e - Dun
n a nd Ha ll I997,
199 1) a nd to the sta rt of re gional tradi ng . ove r 5.000 years
ago (Frank and
Gi lls 1993). Thu s a ce ntral ha llm ar k of WST is its emp has i
on historical
ana lys is to comp re hend both the co nte mporar y and the
future interna tional
system . It is for this reaso n that it ma y be c harac terized as
"a g lobal spat io-
tempora l pe rspec tive" (Dougherty and Pfaltzg raff 1997: 246)
. Th ese aspects
are
systc
conf
Th
and
seui,
WSl
oped
is ca
c han
from
proc,
ferre
scho

terns
that
parti
tendi
force
othe1
stran
as w,
ity b
anal)
pe rsr
mult:
terna
own
stanc
1gno1
disci
trend
chan;
pers~
whic
capit
partic
£9 F
The c
alism
223 d System Theory App roaches
1te sharing man y analytical premi ses,
,mmitted to und e rstanding wor ld pol-

histori ca l materialism the co nvi ction
l categories such as politic s, econom-
the study of political s tructure s and
1 and cul ture, and even the formation
ed within the con text of the capi talist
ce its or igins to Gramsci specifically
oes not share historica l materialism 's
,r its epistemo logica l preferenc es . It
:1.sa reaction to modernization theory,
lily to deve lop was due to its tradi-
to follow a s imilar deve lopment path
). WST instead po s ited that it was the
:ounted for the South's economic, po-
nent of WST is particularly indebted
Waller s tein , and man y wor ld sys tem
rdisc iplinary line between soc iology
1eoris ts are not postpositivi sts and do
Jiste mology, which Robert Cox de -
in of chang e, and hermeneutic ins ofar
.ings" (Cox wit h Sinclair 1996: 514).
itted to a po s itivi st epi stemology and
e soc ial sc ience s might se rv e as a ve-
:iplinary barri ers can be overcom e to
1is tori ca l total ity. Th e ir emp ha s is on
way their scho lar ship is different from
1er nee-Mar x is t perspectiv es, tends to
er.
t it is only po ss ible to unde rstand the
acing its histor ical evo lution si nce the
!ism in the sixteenth ce ntury. Some
istor ica l anal ysis back eve n further , so
!nth and fourteenth centurie s is exa m-
:nt rise to the core (Abu-Lughod 1989;
; are claims that the world sys tem per-

st worlds (Cha se-Dunn and Hall 1997,
jing , over 5,000 yea r s ago (Frank and
• of WST is its emphasi s on histor ical
temporary and the future international
.y be characterized as " a globa l spat io-
j Pfaltzgraff l 997: 246 ) . The se aspec ts
Historical Materialism and World System Theory
a re c learl y dem onstrat ed in Ch apte r 7 .3 by A nn e tte
Freyberg -In an 's wo rld
system analysi s of the US in vas ion o f Ira q. Freyb erg-lnan
argues that the
co nflict mu st be understood w ithin a broa der his torica l and
global con text.
That co nte xt involved Iraqi att e mpt s to ma intain its se mip
eriph era l sta tus
and US att e mpt s to ma int ai n its s tatu s as the globe 's core
hegemon, thu s
se ttin g both stat es on a vio lent co llis ion co urse .
Thi s emphasis on his torical analysis ha s also produ ced varian
ts within
WST that are not nee- Mar x is t in o rig in or focus. On e
perspective, de ve l-
oped in the US IR discipline by G eo rge Modelski and William
Thomp son,
is call ed evo lutionary world politi cs, and it assumes that wo
rld sys te mi c
cha nge s are the product of ongoin g e vo luti o nar y soc ial
proces ses derived
from politi ca l and ec onomi c competi t ion for glo bal
leadersh ip. Th es e
proce sses produ ce long cycles in global pol iti cs, w hich a re
so met ime s re-
ferred to as Kondrati eff cyc les or waves, af te r N ikolai

Kondrat ieff, the
sc ho lar who fir st identifi ed them . The se cyc les acco unt for
the regular pa t-
te rn s of war-making, trading , institut io n buildin g, and
coalition forming
that we see in multipl e reg ion s throu ghout hi s tory .
Kondratieff cycles are
parti cu larl y important to the ev oluti o na ry wo rld politics va
riant , whic h
te nd s to e mpha size po liti cs rather than eco nomics as the
prime motivat ing
force for the sys tem. Yet its ana lytical foc u s and goa ls are
so s im ilar to
other world syste m variant s that , as a mea ns of cap turing the
se di verg e nt
strand s under the same rubric , it ma y be mor e appro priate to
refer to WST
as world sys tem histo ry instead (Den em ark 1999; Frank 1991
).
Because both historical materia lism and WST demand that
socia l re al-
ity be und erstood a s a totality , the sco p e and co mpreh ens
ive ne ss of their
analy ses are both impressive and daun ting. Th ey a re the on ly
IR the ore tical
persp ec tives that, giv en their assu mpt ive frameworks, co ns
is tently and si -
multaneou s ly exa min e the re lation s h ip between all nati on-
states in the in-
ternational sys tem. In so doing, they expand the di scipline 's
vision of its
own s ubj ect matter and provid e a hi s tori ca l, sys temic cont
ex t fo r under -
sta ndin g global social problem s that other pe rs pecti ve s
either compl e tely

ignore or disc uss o nly as they re lat e to the powe rful core
nation-st ates. In a
di sciplin!_! that te nd s to der ive its theo ret ica l ins ight s
from contem porar y
trends and so enco unt ers se riou s analyti ca l di ff iculties
when tho se trends
chang e or di sappear, WST un~ erscores the nee d for a lono-t e
rm theoretical0
per spective. Both of these theori es al so prompt us to co ns
ider the ex tent to
wh ich the disc ipline of IR and its modes of thought a re co
mpone nts of the
capita lis t " hi stori c blo c " a nd , by re fu s ing to co nfr ont
this comp lici ty, we
participate in the ongoing produ c tion o f g loba l inequity.
la Further Reading
The central figu re in the de velopmen t o f cri tica l theory 's
historical mat eri-
alis m va riant is Robert Cox , who fir st desc ribed his app
roach in the wide ly

224 Histori cal Materialism and World System Theory
Approaches
re pri nted essay "Soc ial Forces, S tates, and Wor l d Ord ers" (
198 1 ), a nd s ub-
se qu entl y ex pand ed hi s argume nt s in the book P roduction,
Power, and
World Order ( 1987). Two o the r important wo rks by Cox inc
lud e an edit ed
vo lum e ( 1997 ) a nd a co llect io n o f his essays ( 1996) ed

ited by one of his
stud ents, Timoth y S inclair .
Other se min al hi sto ric a l mat e ri a list texts inc lud e Cafr
un y 1990; Gal-
tun g 197 1; G ill 1998, 1995, 1990a; Harro d 1987; Murphy
1994, 1990; van
der Pij l 1998 , 1984 ; Ru pert 2003, 1995; and Sinc lair 1994.
Edi ted vo lume s
de voted to h istorica l mate ri ali sm inc lude Mittl e man 1997,
Murphy and
Too ze 199 1, Ove rb ee k 1993 , Pa lan 2000 b, Pal a n and Gi
lls 1994 , a nd Ru-
pe rt and Smit h 2002. In add itio n , see the 20 11 J ournal of
/111erna ti ona l R e-
lations and Deve lopment forum edit ed by Bruff and Tep e
entitl ed, " What Is
Criti ca l lP E? "
For works that exp lo re the influ ence of G ramsc i on IR theo
ri z ing and
the deve lop me nt of historica l materialis m, see Aye rs 2008,
Biei er and Mor-
ton 2004 , Cox 1983, Ge rmain and Ke nn y 1998, Gill I 993, Ho
lub I 992,
Mur ph y 1998 , W. Rob inson 2004, Rupe rt 1998, and Tooze
1990 . Th e work
of sc ho lars who subscrib e Lo the Haberm as ian varia nt of
critica l theor y, such
as Andrew Link late r and M . Ho ffm an , are disc usse d in
Chap ter 6. 1, while an
ed ited volume tha t brings both varia nt s toge ther is Wyn Jon
es 20 0 I .
Th e ce ntr al figu re in the deve lopment of WST is Imman ue l
Waller stein

(2004, 1980, 1974). Th e re are seve ra l co llectio ns that re pr
odu ce hi s mos t
se minal essays, w ith the mo st w ide ly rea d be ing The Cap
italist World-
Economy ( 1979; see a lso 199 1 ). A co llec tion of essays
about Wall ers tein 's
wo rk and influ e nce on the d isc ipl ine ca n be found in two s
pecial issues of
J ournal of World Sys tems R esearc h, bo th ed ited by
Giovanni A rr ighi and
Walt er Go ldfr a nk (2 000 a, 2000b). Ano the r in fl ue nti a l
sc ho la r in WST is
Chri stopher Chase-D unn ( 1989 , 1982, 198 1 ), who, w ith in
Wallerste in 's ca t-
ego ri es of inte rnation a l di vis io n , diffe re nti ate d s tate
int eres ts and policy
strat eg ies depe ndin g on va ri ance in prod uct ion adva nta
ges.
Othe r notab le wo rks o f wo rld sys te m theo ri s ts include Ab
u -Lughod
1989; Arrig hi I 994; A rri g hi and Si lve r 1999; Baran 1967;
Braud e l 1979;
Bur ~h and De nemark 1997; C hase -Dunn a nd Ha ll 1997, 199
1; C h iro l and
Ha ll 1982; Denemar k 1999; and Fra nk 1998, 199 1. T he re
are num ero us co l-
lec tions of W ST, inc ludi ng Boswe ll 1989; C hase-D unn
1995; Frank and
Gi lls 1993; Ho llist and Rose nau 198 1; Hopk ins and Wall
erste in 1996, 1980;
Hopk ins , Wa llers te in, and Assoc ia tes 1982; and Sc haeffe r
and Wallerste in
1989. Shann on 1989 prov ides a use ful introdu ct ion to the
pers pe~tive, and,
for an analys is o f the place of ho use ho ld s tru c ture s in the

wo rld capita list
sys tem , see S. Sm ith and Wallers tei n 1992.
Evo lutionary wo rld theor y ca n be found in the works of Geo
rge Model -
ski ( 1996, 1987a, 1978) and William T hom pso n (200 1, 1988,
1983), and to-
gether they have coa uth o red a numb er o f impo rt ant pieces
in thi s perspective
225 Historical Materiali sm and Wor ld System Theory I System
Theory Appr oaches
ind Wor ld Ord ers" (19 8 1), and s ub-
the book Prod uc ti on , Powe r, an d
mt work s by Cox incl ude a n ed it ed
ess ays ( 1996) edit ed b y o ne of hi s
;t texts inc lud e Ca frun y 1990 ; Ga l-
-rod 1987; M urph y 1994 , 199 0 ; van
; and S incl air 1994 . Edit ed vo lum e s
ude Mittl ema n 199 7 , Mur p hy and
O0b , Palan and G ill s 1994 , a nd Ru-
1e 2011 J ournal of Interna tiona l Re -
'JY Bruff and Tepe e ntitl ed , " Wh at Is
ce o f Gra msc i on IR theori zin g and
;m, see Ayers 2008 , Bi e le r and Mo r-
:nn y 199 8, G ill l 993 , Ho lu b I992 ,
ert 199 8, and Tooz e 1990. Th e wo rk
nasian vari ant o f c ritical the or y, such
r e disc ussed in C hapte r 6 .1 , whil e an
togethe r is Wyn Jo nes 20 0 I .

ent of WST is Imm anu el Wall ers te in
co llection s th at re produ ce hi s m o st
, read be ing Th e Cap ita list Wo rld -
.ec tio n of essays abo ut Wa lle rs te in 's
an be foun d in t wo spec ia l iss ues of
,ot h ed it ed by Gi ova nni A rri g hi a nd
ot her influ e nti a l sc ho lar in W S T is
198 1 ), who, with in Wa lle rste in 's cat -
erenti ated sta te in tere st s a nd po li cy
)duction adva nt age s .
stem theo rists inc lud e Abu -Lu g ho d
:r 1999 ; Baran 1967 ; B ra ud e l 1979 ;
mn and Ha ll 19 97 , 199 l ; C hi rot and
1998 , 199 1. Th e re are num ero us co l-
1989 ; Ch ase- Dunn 1995 ; Fr ank and
Hopkin s and Wallerste in 1996, 198 0;
1982 ; and S chae ffe r and Wa lle rste in
introdu ct ion to the pe rspec ti ve, and ,
old s tru c tur es in the world ca pitali st
992.
found in th e wo rks o f Geo rge Mo de l-
'hompson (200 1, 198 8, 19 83), and to -
of important piece s in th is pers pec tive
( Mode ls ki an d Th o mp son 199 9, 199 6 , 1988). Mod e ls ki
a lso ma in ta in s a
we bs ite (htt ps://fac ul ty. was hin g ton.ed u/ mode lsk i/ in
dex .hrml ) on e vo lut ion -
ar y wor ld po liti cs that pro v ides ess ays, b ibli o g ra phi es,
and link s to o th er
pe rtin ent we bs it es on th e subj ec t. A n e arl y exc h ange a
mon g Willi am
Th o m ps on , C hri stop her C hase- Dunn , and Jo an So k o lo
vs ky (1983) in I nter-

nati onal Studi es Quart erly und e rsc or es it s d iff e re nce s
w ith oth e r va ri a nts
o f WS T.
O the r wo rk on Ko ndr a tie ff lo ng cyc les in IR inc lud es F
ree m a n 1983;
Go ld s te in 198 8; Kle inkn ec ht , Ma nd e l , and Wa ll e rs te
in 1992; Kondrati e ff
1984 ; Ras le r and T ho mp so n I98 9 , l 994 ; and an e di ted
vo lu me on the s ub -
ject , Mo de lsk i 19 87 b.
Repr ese nt at ive wo rk s of de pend ency th eo ry inc lud e
Amin 1977; Ca r-
d o so and F ale tt o 1979 ; Fra nk 1970 , 1969; a nd Pr e bi sc h
1963 . A spec ial
iss ue of International Org aniza tion de vo ted to depe nd e ncy
th eo ry .wa s ed -
ited by Ja mes C apora so ( 1978). Mo re rece nt ov er v iews o f
depe nde ncy th e-
o ry and its le gac y inclu de Arri g hi 200 2; He lle r, Ru e sc
he meye r, and Sn yde r
2009; an d Pac ke nham 1992 .
E3 Notes
I . Robe rt Cox re fe rs to the appr oa c h as "hi storica l dia lec
tic" (Cox with S inc la ir
1996: ix), a nd it is so me tim es ca lle d "C ox ia n hi s toric is
m. " In linkin g the a pp ro ac h
to M a rx is m a nd c riti c a l th e or y, Ric h ard Wy n Jo ne s
no tes th a t Hork he im er firs t
na me d c ritic a l th eo ry " inte rdi sci pl ina ry m a te ri al is
m " ( I 99 9 : 14 ). Th e practit io ne rs
o f WST , o n the oth e r hand , pr efe r th e te rm s "w or ld sys

te m par adigm ," "ana lysis,"
or "his tory," ra the r than " the o ry," since the la tte r s ugges
ts a s ing le , unifi ed ex pl a na -
tio n . T he ter m " th e ory" ha s bee n use d he re , how eve r,
in kee pi ng w ith it s usa ge
throu g hout thi s book as a n um bre lla te rm sig nif yi ng a
vari e ty o f ap proac hes, ar g u-
me nts, a nd wo rk s w ith in a broa d , a na lytic a l tradi tio n .
2. See, fo r ex amp le, Do y le 1997, G ilpin 1987, a nd Ri c ha
rd son 20 01b .
3. Fo r an exa mp le o f ho w diff e re nt a na ly tic a l pe rs pec
ti ves su bsc r ibe to heg e -
mo nic stab ilit y theo ry, see C hri s top he r Cha se- Dunn e t a
l. 1994 .
4. De pe nden cy th eo ry wa s deve lo pe d b y La tin Am e r ic
a n sc ho lar s an d wa s
ori g ina lly ass oc ia te d with the Unit ed Nat io ns Co nfe re
nc e o n Tra de a nd De ve lop-
me nt ( UNCTA D) and its Ec onomic Co m m iss ion on La ti n
A me rica (EC LA) . Writ e rs
for EC LA .;tnd UNC TAD a rgued that La tin A me rica was
unab le to deve lop d ue to its
unfavorab le te rm s o f tra d e with c a pi ta li st so c ie ties .
De pe nden cy the or ists a lso a r-
g ue d , al ong a na lyti ca l line s deve loped by Le nin , th a t
tran sn a tio na l a lli a nces be -
twee n ca pit a list a nd bo urgeo is ie c lasses in E uro pe a n a
nd L a tin Amer ica n soc ie ties
e ffe ctive ly ex plo ited the wor ke rs of the la tte r.
5 . C ra ig M u rphy ( 1990 ) a rg ues , for exa mp le, th at the re
is a cla ss a lli an ce be -
twee n th e "Atl anti c" o r "tr ilat era l"' rulin g cla ss in th e co

re, the "o rg an iza ti on bo ur-
ge o is ie" rulin g cla ss in the th ird world , and som e o f th e s
ubo rd in a te cla sses in th e
co re, wh ic h co llec tive ly subo rdinat e a ll th e oth e r cla ss
e s. See al so G ill 1990a , W.
Rob inso n 20 04 , a nd va n der Pij l 1984 .
6 . Th er e a re exce ptio ns, as so me sec uri ty sc ho lar s ha ve
so ught to comb ine in -
sight s from Gra m sc i a nd the Fr an kfu rt Sc hoo l in to w ha
t is kn o wn as th e We ls h or
Ab e rys twy th Sc hool (see Booth 2008 a nd Wy n Jo nes 199
9).

226 Historical Materialism and World System Theory
Approaches
7. The fir s t term is drawn from Stephen Gil l '; th eo ry of
global ization ( 1998 .
1995), which argues that variou s global mark et fo rces and a
ge nts discipline sta te s
and soc ie ties into neolibera l ideology and str ucture s. Th e
seco nd te rm is use d by
multipl e theor e ti c a l per s pectives and he nce ha s mul tip le
m ea ning s (se e, fo r exam-
ple, Hoffmann a nd Ba 2005), bu t in hi storic al materia lis m it
is used to indi cate the
hegemony of capi ta list norm s and di sco urse. As Tim oth y
Sin c lair notes , it means " to
become he ge monic in the Gramsc ian se nse o f comb ining co
erc ive powe r wit h a
mea sure of co nse ns us" ( 1999 : 158). It is not a benign co nce

pt in the h istorica l ma-
terial ist con text.
8. It is so me tim es referr e d to s im ply as ··stru c turali s m."'
Baylis and Sm ith
(20 11), fo r exa m ple, c laim th at Marxi s t th eory is a lso
known as "s tru c tur alism" or
WST , so that all three are eq ua ted with one a nother. Yiotti
and Kauppi ( I 999 : 356),
on the othe r h a nd , refer to WST as "globalism ·· and hi s to
rica l ma te ria lis m as
"neostructura lism."
9. The se id eas are drawn directl y from Marx, w ho ar g ued
that politics and eco-
nom ics were interrelated , not sepa rate domain s, and that soc
ie ty had to be studied in
its to ta lity. As Yiotti and Kauppi pu t it, "g loba lists argue
that to ex plain be havi o r at
an y and a ll leve ls of a nal ys is- the indi vidua l, bur eaucratic
. socie tal. and betwee n
sta te s or between soc ieties -o ne mu st fir s t under s tand th e
ove rall struc ture o f the
global sys te m wit hin w hic h s uc h beh av ior takes p lac e .
As with real is ts, globa lists
be lieve that th e starting po int o f anal ysis s ho uld be th e int
e rnational sys tem . To a
large ex tent, the behavior o f indiv idual a c tors is exp lain ed
by a sys tem that prov ides
co nst raint s and op portun ities" ( 1999: 341 ).
11

ti
ll

a
In thi
eff ori
core
broac
and t
acco1
tiona
and s
thus
the rv
natio
plau 5
the y
this I
fruit(
ca l n
of ar
Uni1<
ri es I
ogni;
reali:
1979
tion"
pie. ·

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/15/these-25-companies-are-
more-powerful-
than-many-countries-multinational-corporate-wealth-power/
Parag Khanna
These 25 Companies Are More Powerful Than Many
Countries
Going stateless to maximize profits, multinational companies
are vying with governments for global power.
Who is winning?
FOREIGN POLICY, APRIL 15, 2016
= = = = = = = = = = = =
At first glance, the story of Accenture reads like the archetype

0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i

0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to 0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i

Similar to 0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i (20)

More from MartineMccracken314

More from MartineMccracken314 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

0 .. ,t Approaches . . h d can be safe ly lef t as i