The limitations of the critical edge: Reflections on critical and philosophical ir scholarship today

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

Volumn 40, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 129-146

  Kurki, Milja ^a  

^a ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Critical theory; Ir theory; Theory practice nexus

Indexed keywords

EID: 80052323136     PISSN: 03058298     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0305829811411997     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. Richard Youngs, 'Misunderstanding the Maladies of Liberal Democracy Promotion', in Conceptual Politics of Democracy Promotion, eds Christopher Hobson and Milja Kurki (London: Routledge, forthcoming).
2. See also Richard Youngs, The EU's Role in World Politics: A Retreat from Liberal Internationalism (London: Routledge, 2010).
3. Richard Wyn Jones, 'Introduction: Locating Critical International Relations Theory', in Critical Theory and World Politics, ed. Richard Wyn Jones (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001), 1-23
4. Andrew Linklater, 'The Question of the Next Stage in International Relations Theory: A Critical-Theoretical Point of View', Millennium 21, no. 1 (1992): 77-98
5. Andrew Linklater, 'The Changing Contours of Critical International Relations Theory', in Critical Theory and World Politics, ed. Richard Wyn Jones (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001), 23-43
6. Mark Neufeld, 'Reflexivity and International Relations Theory', Millennium 22, no. 1 (1993): 53-76
7. Chris Brown, 'Turtles All the Way Down: Anti-foundationalism, Critical Theory and International Relations', Millennium 23, no. 2 (1994): 213-36
8. Thomas Biersteker, 'Critical Reflections on Post-Positivism in International Relations', International Studies Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1989): 263-7
9. Mark Hoffman, 'Critical Theory and the Inter-paradigm Debate', Millennium 16, no. 2 (1987): 231-49
10. Herbert Marcuse, One-dimensional Man (London: Routledge, 1964), 281.
11. Craig Murphy, 'Critical Theory and the Democratic Impulse: Understanding a Century-old Tradition', in Critical Theory and World Politics, ed. Richard Wyn Jones (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001), 61-75
12. Brian Schmidt, 'International Relations Theory: Hegemony or Pluralism?', Millennium 36 (2008): 295-310.
13. Murphy, 'Critical Theory'.
14. Biersteker, 'Critical Reflections', 265
15. William Wallace, 'Truth and Power, Monks and Technocrats: Theory and Practice in International Relations', Review of International Studies 22, no. 3 (1996): 301-21
16. Fred Chernoff, The Power of International Theory: Reforging the Link to Foreign Policy Making through Scientific Inquiry (London: Routledge, 2005)
17. Colin Wight, Structure and Agency in International Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)
18. Milja Kurki, 'Critical Realism and Causal Analysis', Millennium 35, no. 2 (2007): 361-78
19. Richard Wyn Jones, 'Introduction'.
20. Milja Kurki and Colin Wight, 'International Relations as Social Science', in International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, eds Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 1-33
21. Martin Hollis and Steve Smith, Explaining and Understanding International Relations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).
22. Patrick T. Jackson, Social Inquiry in International Relations (London: Routledge, 2011).
23. Steve Fuller, Struggle for the Soul of Science: Popper vs Kuhn (New York: Longman, 2005).
24. Biersteker, 'Critical Reflections', 266
25. Murphy, 'Critical Theory'.
26. Milja Kurki, 'The Politics of the Philosophy of Science', International Theory 1, no. 3 (2009): 440-54.
27. Robert Cox, 'Social Forces, States and World Order: Beyond International Relations Theory', Millennium 10, no. 2 (1981): 126-55
28. Richard Ashley, 'Political Realism and Human Interests', International Studies Quarterly 25, no. 2 (1981): 221-26
29. Richard Ashley and R.J.B. Walker, eds, 'Speaking the Language of Exile: Dissidence in International Studies', Special Issue of International Studies Quarterly 34, no. 3 (1990)
30. Hoffman, 'Critical Theory'
31. Mark Hoffman, 'Conversations on Critical International Relations Theory', Millennium 17, no. 1 (1988): 91-6
32. Andrew Linklater, Men and Citizens in International Theory (London: Macmillan, 1981)
33. Steve Smith, 'Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Ship Called Modernity: Rosenberg, Epistemology and Emancipation', Millennium 23, no. 2 (1994): 395-405
34. Steve Smith, 'Singing our World into Existence: International Relations Theory and September 11: Presidential Address to the International Studies Association, February 27, 2003', International Studies Quarterly 48, no. 3 (2004): 499-51.
35. Steve Smith, 'Power and Truth: A Reply to William Wallace', Review of International Studies 23, no. 4 (1997): 507-16.
36. See, for example, Millennium, vols 16 and 17
37. See also Mark Hoffman, 'Critical Voices in a Mainstream Local: Millennium, the LSE International Relations Department and the Development of International Theory', in International Relations at LSE: A History of 75 years, eds H. Bauer and E. Brighi (London: Millennium Publishing, 2003), 139-74.
38. Steve Smith's work is very instructive here; he argued for a pluralist position on theoretical frameworks both openly and implicitly, perhaps most famously in his collaboratively written book with Martin Hollis.
39. Richard Price and Christian Reus-Smit, 'Dangerous Liaisons? Critical International Theory and Constructivism', European Journal of International Relations 4, no. 3 (1998): 259-294
40. Richard Wyn Jones, 'Introduction'.
41. Hoffman, 'Critical Theory'; Brown, 'Turtles'; Mark Neufeld, 'Who's Afraid of Meta-theory?', Millennium 23, no. 2 (1994): 387-94
42. Justin Rosenberg, 'The International Imagination: IR and 'Classical Social Analysis', Millennium 23, no. 1 (1994): 85-108.
43. Neufeld, 'Who's Afraid', 389.
44. Marcuse, One-dimensional Man.
45. Robert O. Keohane, 'International Institutions: Two Approaches', in International Theory: Critical Investigations, ed. James Der Derian (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995).
46. Hollis and Smith, Explaining and Understanding
47. Neufeld, 'Reflexivity'
48. Neufeld, 'Who's Afraid'.
49. Wallace, 'Truth and Power'.
50. Colin Hay, Political Analysis: A Critical Introduction (London: Palgrave, 2002).
51. Andreas Bieler and Adam Morton, 'The Deficits of Discourse in IPE: Turning Base Metal into Gold?', International Studies Quarterly 52, no. 1 (2008): 103-28
52. Milja Kurki and Adriana Sinclair, 'Hidden in Plain Sight: Constructivist Treatment of Social Context and Limitations', International Politics 47, no. 1 (2010): 1-25.
53. Alex Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
54. Friedrich Kratochwil, Rules, Norms and Decisions: On the Conditions of Practical and Legal Reasoning in International Relations and Domestic Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989)
55. Nicholas Onuf, World of Our Making (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1989).
56. Hollis and Smith, Explaining and Understanding
57. Wight, Structures and Agents
58. Chernoff, The Power
59. Hidemi Suganami, The Causes of War (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)
60. Wendt, Social Theory
61. Heikki Patomaki, After International Relations: Critical Realism and World Politics (London: Routledge, 2002).
62. Neufeld, 'Reflexivity'
63. Heikki Patomaki and Colin Wight, 'After Post-positivism: The Promises of Critical Realism', International Studies Quarterly 44 (2001): 213-37
64. Nivien Saleh, 'Philosophical Pitfalls: The Methods Debate in American Political Science', Journal of integrated Social Sciences 1, no. 1 (2009): 141-76.
65. I am grateful to Mark Hoffman for clarifying this point.
66. Chernoff, The Power
67. Suganami, Causes
68. Jackson, Social Inquiry
69. Nuno Monteiro and Keven Ruby, 'IR and the False Promise of Philosophical Foundations', International Theory 1, no. 1 (2009): 15-48
70. Saleh, 'Philosophical Pitfalls'.
71. Richard Wyn Jones, 'Introduction'
72. Nick Rengger and T.B. Thirkell-White, Still Critical after All These Years? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
73. Jenny Edkins and Nick Vaughan-Williams, eds, Critical Theorists and International Relations (London: Routledge, 2009).
74. Richard Youngs, 'Misunderstanding the Maladies of Liberal Democracy Promotion', in Conceptual Politics of Democracy Promotion, eds Christopher Hobson and Milja Kurki (London: Routledge, 2011).
75. Ole Waever, 'Still a Discipline after All These Debates?', in International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, eds Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 297-316.
76. John J. Mearsheimer, 'E.H. Carr vs. Idealism: The Battle Rages On', International Relations 19, no. 2 (2005): 139-52
77. John J. Mearsheimer, 'The More Isms the Better', International Relations 19, no. 3 (2005): 354-59
78. Schmidt, 'International Relations Theory'.
79. This involves the external assessment and ranking of research outputs of academics and constitutes not only a key instrument of financial allocation for universities in the UK, but also a key measure of the prestige and market position of departments.
80. Richard Wyn Jones, 'Introduction', 15.
81. Wyn Jones, 'Introduction', vii.
82. Colin Hay and David Marsh, eds, Demystifying Globalisation (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000).
83. Murphy, 'Critical Theory', 61.
84. Strange, quoted in Murphy, 'Critical Theory', 75.
85. Murphy, 'Critical Theory', 75.
86. See Murphy, 'Critical Theory'.
87. Rosenberg, 'International'
88. Smith, 'Rearranging the Deckchairs'.
89. Owen Worth, 'The Poverty and Potential of Gramscian Thought in International Relations', International Politics 45 (2008): 633-49
90. Wyn Jones, 'Introduction'.
91. Youngs, 'Misunderstanding'.
92. Jeff Bridoux, "It's the Political, Stupid': national vs transnational perspectives on democratisation in Iraq', The International Journal of Human Rights, 15 (4): 552-571.
93. Milja Kurki, 'Critical Realism and the Analysis of Democratisation: Does Philosophy of Science Matter?', in Scientific and Critical Realism in International Relations, ed. Jonathan Joseph and Colin Wight (London: Palgrave, 2010), 129-47.
94. Worth, 'The Poverty'.
95. Heikki Patomäki, The Political Economy of Global Security (London: Routledge, 2009).
96. Biersteker, 'Critical Reflections', 266.
97. Biersteker, 'Critical Reflections', 264, emphasis in original.
98. Hoffman, 'Critical Voices'.