At the turn of the millennium, and now after the fall of the Berlin wall, the best way to map the trajectories of contemporary international relations is hotly contested. Is the world more or less ordered than during the cold war? Are we on the way to a neo-liberal era of free markets and global governance, or in danger of collapsing into a new Middle Ages? Are we on the verge of a new world order or are we slipping back into an old one?These issues are amongst those that have dominated International Relations Theory in the late 1980s and 1990s, but they have their roots in older questions both about the appropriate ways to study international relations and about the general frameworks and normative assumptions generated by various different methodological approaches. This book seeks to offer a general interpretation and critique of both methodolgical and substantive aspects of International theory, and in particular to argue that International Relations theory has seperated itself from the concerns of political theory more generally at considerable cost to each.Focussing intially on the 'problem of order' in international politics, the book suggests that International Relations theory in the twentieth century had adopted two broad families of approaches, the first of which seeks to find ways of 'managing' order in international relations and the second of which seeks to 'end' the problem of order. It traces three specific sets of responses to the problem of order within the first approach, which emphasize 'balance', 'society' and 'institutions' and outlines two responses within the second grouping, an emphasis on emancipation and an emphasis on limits. Finally, the book assesses the state of International Relations theory today and suggests an alternative way of reading the problem of order which generates a different trajectory for theory in the twenty first century.

International Relations, Political Theory and the Problem of Order: Beyond International Relations Theory? (New International Relations)

Politics & Social Sciences

Rengger, N. J.

Politics & Government

Routledge

<p>At the turn of the millennium, and now after the fall of the Berlin wall, the best way to map the trajectories of contemporary international relations is hotly contested. Is the world more or less ordered than during the cold war? Are we on the way to a neo-liberal era of free markets and global governance, or in danger of collapsing into a new Middle Ages? Are we on the verge of a new world order or are we slipping back into an old one?<br>These issues are amongst those that have dominated International Relations Theory in the late 1980s and 1990s, but they have their roots in older questions both about the appropriate ways to study international relations and about the general frameworks and normative assumptions generated by various different methodological approaches. This book seeks to offer a general interpretation and critique of both methodolgical and substantive aspects of International theory, and in particular to argue that International Relations theory has seperated itself from the concerns of political theory more generally at considerable cost to each.<br>Focussing intially on the 'problem of order' in international politics, the book suggests that International Relations theory in the twentieth century had adopted two broad families of approaches, the first of which seeks to find ways of 'managing' order in international relations and the second of which seeks to 'end' the problem of order. It traces three specific sets of responses to the problem of order within the first approach, which emphasize 'balance', 'society' and 'institutions' and outlines two responses within the second grouping, an emphasis on emancipation and an emphasis on limits. Finally, the book assesses the state of International Relations theory today and suggests an alternative way of reading the problem of order which generates a different trajectory for theory in the twenty first century.</p>

Debates about the nature, character and implications of "modernity" have moved centre stage within contemporary social thought, but there has as yet been little work addressing the relevance of these debates to the agenda of Anglo-American political theory. "Modernity" is a notion widely used, but much misunderstood. In attempting to analyze the component parts of recent debate, this book identifies two broad "senses" of modernity - "modernity in mood" and "modernity as socio-cultural form". It then offers an outline interpretation of the debates ranged round these conceptions, examining the position and arguments of modernity's defenders and its critics, and suggesting how and in what way its implications for political theory might be assessed. In the subsequent search for treatments of identity, community and democracy that address the issues problematized by both sides in the modernity debate, a new agenda for political theory emerges. This framework is designed neither as a full defence of modernity, nor as a complete acceptance of the "postmodern turn", but one which nevertheless recognizes the significance of the points raised by the debates, and argues for an integrated theory for contemporary world politics.

Political Theory, of Modernity and Postmodernity: Beyond Enlightenment and Critique

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Blackwell Pub.

Debates about the nature, character and implications of 'modernity' have moved centre stage within contemporary social thought, but there has as yet been little work addressing the relevance of these debates to the agenda of Anglo-American political theory. In this pioneering survey N. J. Rengger remedies the problem by providing a short, accessible and comprehensive account of the modernity debate and an analysis of its implications for political theory.

Political Theory, Modernity and Postmodernity

Religion & Spirituality

Religious Studies

Wiley/Blackwell

Retreat from the Modern: Humanism, Postmodernism, and the Flight from Modernist Culture (Briefings)

Arts & Photography

Bowerdean Pub Co Ltd

International Relations, Political Theory and the Problem of Order: Beyond International Relations Theory?

Treaties and Alliances of the World

Campbell, John

Foreign & International Law

Gale/Cengage Learning

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