Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
7-2010
Abstract
Much work has been done to deconstruct the links between knowledge and power in IR as "an American Social Science". This topic has arisen again with the re- launching of the English School of IR Theory in 2001. This essay argues that although the English School is critical of the power-knowledge dynamic, it actually exacerbates the problem by deliberately "nationalising" international theory. The essay traces the emergence and logic of the English School and its key concept "International Society". It argues that the English School is tied not only to national identity but to the rules of European Empire. Using the case of International Society's intervention in China, the essay shows how International Society uses "standards of civilisation" to draw borders between the subjects and objects of IR. But rather than tracing civilisation/empire to racial/national differentiation, the essay argues that "class" is used to differentiate between aristocratic member states of the club of International Society, and lower class colonies outside Europe. In other words, rather than looking to international ethics to regulate world politics, International Society relies on aristocratic etiquette for world ordering. Hence the theory is not as radical as its promoters suggest; rather, by limiting theoretical discussion to nation-states, the English School is a conservative confederate of other state-centric approaches to world politics. To do this, the essay looks beyond Eurocentric discourse and high diplomacy; it engages in a comparative IR theory that uses a new set of texts from China and the popular culture of manners.
Discipline
Asian Studies | Political Theory
Research Areas
Political Science
Areas of Excellence
Digital transformation
Publication
Global Society
Volume
18
Issue
4
First Page
305
Last Page
323
ISSN
1360-0826
Identifier
10.1080/1360082042000272436
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
Citation
CALLAHAN, William A..(2010). Nationalizing international theory: Race, class and the English School. Global Society, 18(4), 305-323.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4354
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/1360082042000272436