A Postmodernist View Of International Relations Politics Essay

A Postmodernist View Of International Relations Politics Essay Some scholars argue that alternative approaches to IR theory have not made any significant contributions to the theorization of IR. Moreover, these approaches lead our IR theory into disorder and we are left with a lack of direction. However, focusing on Postmodernism, we find it has produced the idea of the power-knowledge relationship to criticize the â€Å"absolute truth† which is proposed by Positivism, and also provides us with different methodologies such as genealogy, text, narrative, discourse, deconstruction and double reading to explain world politics. Besides, Postmodernism has utilized a variety of methods such as deconstruction of text to overcome the theories and concepts that people believe (Der Derian and Shapiro, 1989). In the past international theory has been dominated by four main theories: Realism, Liberalism, Marxism and Constructivism. However, in the last two decades there has been a dramatic change to this picture. A range of new approaches has develo ped to aid understanding of world politics. In the context of globalization, even Realism seems inadequate to explain issues like the rise of non-state actors, identity politics, transnational social movements and information technology. The new major development is not only underway in the academic discipline of social science but also in the philosophy of social science, in a movement known as Positivism. Thus many alternative ways of thinking about the social sciences have been proposed and since the picture of IR theory has changed a series of alternative approaches has emerged as more relevant to world politics in the twenty first century (Smith S, 2008). Until the late 1980s, most social scientists in International Relations tended to be Positivists. But since then Positivism has been under attack. The assumptions made by Positivism met with dissent as criticism of the IR theories led by Positivism began to emerge (Smith S, 2008). This is the so-called â€Å"the third debateà ¢â‚¬  (Ashley R., 1987; 1990; Walker R. B. J., 1993). It can also be called the Positivism and Post-Positivism debate (Lapid Y., 1989; Jim G., 1990; Smith S., 1995).. The dissent from Positivism prominently contains Feminism, Critical theory, Post-colonialism, Poststructuralism and Postmodernism. Their common idea is that they all see the world as something external to the IR theory (Smith S., 2008).Postmodernism is the term used by sociologists and others to describe a way of thinking that has become pervasive in the Western world in the last twenty-five years. It is an approach to reality that is having a significant effect on architecture, art, education, law, literature, psychotherapy, science, theatre, and the study of history and people’s view of religion (Exploring Christianity-Truth, n.d.). It reached IR theory in the mid-1980s, but can only be said to have really arrived in the past fifteen years (Smith S., 2008).The term â€Å"Postmodernism† first entered th e philosophical lexicon in 1979, with the publication of The Postmodern Condition by Jean-Franà §ois Lyotard (Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, 2005). Other significant writers who have promoted Postmodernism are De Man, Elshtain, Geoffrey Hartman, Harold Bloom, Michel Foucault, J. Hillis Miller, Jacques Derrida, Habermas, Richard Rorty and Rob Walker. Postmodernists who have made important contributions to IR theory are Richard Ashley, James Der Derian, David Campbell and William Connolly. Its origins are found in the philosophies of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Marx and Freud (Exploring Christianity-Truth, n.d.; Smith S., 2008).