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The 'Debate about Empire' and International Relations Theory: Beyond the Narratives of Sovereign and Imperial Power in Theorizing Modern World Politics |
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Abstract:
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NEW TITLE: Governmentality, Empire and the World State
This paper examines the implications of the recent debates concerning imperialism and empire in
IR theory for theory of the state. It first critiques contemporary theoretical discussion about the
state and its autonomy as an actor under conditions of globalization, focusing in particular on
recently popular ‘world state’ theory. I suggest that while this discourse is useful to the extent
that it historicizes the function of the state in world politics, it also restricts our understanding of
sovereignty of the world state by posing it as a sort of general combining of sovereignty, led by
developed liberal states. Martin Shaw, for example, poses this development as a voluntary
decision made by these polities in favor of increasing efficiency, and as a response to increasing
global complexity. Alexander Wendt argues the same but adds that the phenomenon must
ultimately be situated in the context of man’s transhistorical struggle for ‘recognition’. While not
necessarily challenging the argument that a world state may be emerging at this time, the purpose
of this paper is to set out a critical analysis of the particular understanding of the state elaborated
by these two scholars. Premised as they both are on an understanding of political power that is
both instrumental and right, they assume that the emerging zone is both powerful and legitimate.
Yet what is the basis of this power? And how is its legitimacy constituted? By way of responding
to these sorts of questions, this chapter elaborates a critique of global state theory by challenging
its most fundamental assumption, the notion of the state as a legitimate centre of power given
outside of social relations. This paper suggests instead that the state is a historically dynamic
thing subject to change as predominant notions of what the state represents as a subject are
themselves transformed. To make this argument, this paper borrows from two different critiques
of the world state. It refers first to an emerging Marxist critique within IR theory that focuses on
the repressive role of imperial violence in the formation of the world state. However, while
noting that this approach is useful to the extent that it reveals the elision of many forms of
violence in world state theory, it also suggests a pressing need also to examine the role of
productive forms of power in this development. To elaborate on this I turn to Foucault’s critique
of government and some recent applications of this theory to both traditional imperialism and the
newer imperialism of neo-liberal governmentality. These works challenge not only the innocence
of the politics that has produced the world state but also the assumption of the possibility of an
essentially definable governing world sovereign. In this way, these works speak not only to the
importance of rationalizations of imperial government in determining forms of sovereignty but
they also allow us today to situate the global state in continuity with the imperial regimes that
preceded it. |
Most Common Document Word Stems:
state (255), power (100), world (82), global (77), wendt (71), imperi (65), shaw (52), polit (48), intern (41), suggest (41), govern (39), relat (36), institut (36), social (35), constitut (34), liber (34), form (33), sovereignti (33), subject (31), theori (30), mann (29), |
Author's Keywords:
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empire, Foucault, Wendt, Shaw, governmentality, biopower, Barkawi, Laffey, International Relations, Theory |
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Association:
Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
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Citation:
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MLA Citation:
| Kiersey, Nicholas. "The 'Debate about Empire' and International Relations Theory: Beyond the Narratives of Sovereign and Imperial Power in Theorizing Modern World Politics" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott, Loews Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 31, 2006 <Not Available>. 2009-05-24 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p150596_index.html> |
APA Citation:
| Kiersey, N. J. , 2006-08-31 "The 'Debate about Empire' and International Relations Theory: Beyond the Narratives of Sovereign and Imperial Power in Theorizing Modern World Politics" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott, Loews Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA Online <APPLICATION/PDF>. 2009-05-24 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p150596_index.html |
Publication Type: Proceeding Abstract: NEW TITLE: Governmentality, Empire and the World State
This paper examines the implications of the recent debates concerning imperialism and empire in
IR theory for theory of the state. It first critiques contemporary theoretical discussion about the
state and its autonomy as an actor under conditions of globalization, focusing in particular on
recently popular ‘world state’ theory. I suggest that while this discourse is useful to the extent
that it historicizes the function of the state in world politics, it also restricts our understanding of
sovereignty of the world state by posing it as a sort of general combining of sovereignty, led by
developed liberal states. Martin Shaw, for example, poses this development as a voluntary
decision made by these polities in favor of increasing efficiency, and as a response to increasing
global complexity. Alexander Wendt argues the same but adds that the phenomenon must
ultimately be situated in the context of man’s transhistorical struggle for ‘recognition’. While not
necessarily challenging the argument that a world state may be emerging at this time, the purpose
of this paper is to set out a critical analysis of the particular understanding of the state elaborated
by these two scholars. Premised as they both are on an understanding of political power that is
both instrumental and right, they assume that the emerging zone is both powerful and legitimate.
Yet what is the basis of this power? And how is its legitimacy constituted? By way of responding
to these sorts of questions, this chapter elaborates a critique of global state theory by challenging
its most fundamental assumption, the notion of the state as a legitimate centre of power given
outside of social relations. This paper suggests instead that the state is a historically dynamic
thing subject to change as predominant notions of what the state represents as a subject are
themselves transformed. To make this argument, this paper borrows from two different critiques
of the world state. It refers first to an emerging Marxist critique within IR theory that focuses on
the repressive role of imperial violence in the formation of the world state. However, while
noting that this approach is useful to the extent that it reveals the elision of many forms of
violence in world state theory, it also suggests a pressing need also to examine the role of
productive forms of power in this development. To elaborate on this I turn to Foucault’s critique
of government and some recent applications of this theory to both traditional imperialism and the
newer imperialism of neo-liberal governmentality. These works challenge not only the innocence
of the politics that has produced the world state but also the assumption of the possibility of an
essentially definable governing world sovereign. In this way, these works speak not only to the
importance of rationalizations of imperial government in determining forms of sovereignty but
they also allow us today to situate the global state in continuity with the imperial regimes that
preceded it. |
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application/pdf |
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35 |
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10661 |
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| 1 Governmentality Empire and the World State by Nicholas J. Kiersey Virginia Tech & UVA-Wise ____________________________ A paper prepared for presentation at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting Philadelphia August 31 2006 Panel Title: "Rethinking power in the 'debate about empire'" 2 Abstract This paper examines the implications of the recent debates concerning imperialism and empire in IR theory for theory of the state. It first critiques contemporary theoretical discussion about the state and its autonomy as an |
| Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press. Shaw M. (1997). The State of Globalization: Towards a Theory of State Transformation. Review of International Political Economy 4 497-513. 34 Wendt A. (1992). Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics. International Organization 46 391-452. Wendt A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics (Vol. 67). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wendt A. (2003). Why a World State is Inevitable. European Journal of International Relations 9(4) 491-542. [First Authors Last Name] |
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The 'Debate About Empire' and International Relations Theory; Beyond the Narratives of Sovereign and Imperial Power in Theorizing Modern World Politics
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