Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper discusses the lessons of elite perceptions of the international system for systemic International Relations theory. This is done on the basis of a comparative British-French case study of Aristide Briand (1862-1932), Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937), Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934) for their perceptions of the international system 1880s-1930s.
Theorisation of the international system is based on observation on it, whether by scholar or practitioner. IR theory remains largely based on an US experience of the Cold War world, ignoring different historical and contemporary experiences. However, authors as for instance Hoffmann (1959), Pedersen (1970) and Jervis (1976) point out the benefits to IR theory development from centrally placed actors’ insights. These authors emphasise how for example elite causal beliefs can inform the theorist of imaginable causal relationships of the system.
The value of elite perception studies for systemic IR theory will be discussed by the example of Aristide Briand, Austen Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and Raymond Poincaré, four actors with very privileged positions to observe the international system during a historical period of crucial transformation of the system with transition from multipolarity to bipolarity, ideological contestation and norms as right of self determination.
This paper will focus on the explanations of conflict (2nd vs. 3rd image), interdependence between regime ideology and international order concerning revolutionary Russia and Weimar Germany after WWI and limits to the international system or order in the case of the colonial Frontier. This will show clear differences in perception and subsequent policy, both valuable for critically discussing theory on ideology and international order and limits to this order.