A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE
Autor(a) principal: | |
---|---|
Data de Publicação: | 2015 |
Outros Autores: | |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Contexto Internacional |
Texto Completo: | http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292015000300889 |
Resumo: | Abstract Though welcome, Cohen's call for exchange across diverse perspectives in international political economy (IPE) evades the question: why have we remained unaware of or insensitive to the diversity that already exists? We follow John Hobson's claim that racism, imperialism and Eurocentrism disallow a western-dominated social science from engaging with diverse viewpoints. We argue further that a disciplinary bias towards a unit-level or atomistic understanding of social science precludes and disallows epistemological encounters in which actual diversity might be harnessed. We support this claim in two steps. First, we draw on Ghassan Hage's analysis of exigophobia, or the fear that social explanation inadvertently justifies horrendous actions and humanises their perpetrators. Exigophobia activates what we call the condemnation imperative: an eagerness to condemn an individual or group act, of fierce violence, for example, before one has tried to understand or explain it. Second, building on Nicholas Onuf's work on levels, we show that the disciplinary bias towards explanations which 'see' from the level of individual actors treats Europe or the west, in Hobson's terms, as 'self-constituting and exceptional'. When one neglects the structuring features of the whole, and assumes western 'pioneering agency', it is easy to treat non-western inferiority (irrationality, backwards culture, and so on) as an explanation of the relative successes and failures of a flattened planet of autonomous units. Though we endorse forms of social explanation that start from the whole as opposed to the parts, we favour the view that there are only simultaneous and continuous processes whose seeming mystical flow our descriptions cannot but freeze. We suggest that there are no levels, simply parts and wholes in process. |
id |
PUC_RIO-22_d9f107f6360214773bf9843788f232c7 |
---|---|
oai_identifier_str |
oai:scielo:S0102-85292015000300889 |
network_acronym_str |
PUC_RIO-22 |
network_name_str |
Contexto Internacional |
repository_id_str |
|
spelling |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPEEurocentrismCondemnation ImperativeExigophobiaAtomismSocial ExplanationLevelsParts and WholesProcessAbstract Though welcome, Cohen's call for exchange across diverse perspectives in international political economy (IPE) evades the question: why have we remained unaware of or insensitive to the diversity that already exists? We follow John Hobson's claim that racism, imperialism and Eurocentrism disallow a western-dominated social science from engaging with diverse viewpoints. We argue further that a disciplinary bias towards a unit-level or atomistic understanding of social science precludes and disallows epistemological encounters in which actual diversity might be harnessed. We support this claim in two steps. First, we draw on Ghassan Hage's analysis of exigophobia, or the fear that social explanation inadvertently justifies horrendous actions and humanises their perpetrators. Exigophobia activates what we call the condemnation imperative: an eagerness to condemn an individual or group act, of fierce violence, for example, before one has tried to understand or explain it. Second, building on Nicholas Onuf's work on levels, we show that the disciplinary bias towards explanations which 'see' from the level of individual actors treats Europe or the west, in Hobson's terms, as 'self-constituting and exceptional'. When one neglects the structuring features of the whole, and assumes western 'pioneering agency', it is easy to treat non-western inferiority (irrationality, backwards culture, and so on) as an explanation of the relative successes and failures of a flattened planet of autonomous units. Though we endorse forms of social explanation that start from the whole as opposed to the parts, we favour the view that there are only simultaneous and continuous processes whose seeming mystical flow our descriptions cannot but freeze. We suggest that there are no levels, simply parts and wholes in process.Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Relações Internacionais2015-12-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292015000300889Contexto Internacional v.37 n.3 2015reponame:Contexto Internacionalinstname:Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO)instacron:PUC_RIO10.1590/S0102-85292015000300004info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessInayatullah,NaeemBlaney,David L.eng2015-11-25T00:00:00Zoai:scielo:S0102-85292015000300889Revistahttp://contextointernacional.iri.puc-rio.br/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?tpl=homePUBhttps://old.scielo.br/oai/scielo-oai.phpcintjournal@puc-rio.br||contextointernacional@puc-rio.br1982-02400102-8529opendoar:2015-11-25T00:00Contexto Internacional - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO)false |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
title |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
spellingShingle |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE Inayatullah,Naeem Eurocentrism Condemnation Imperative Exigophobia Atomism Social Explanation Levels Parts and Wholes Process |
title_short |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
title_full |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
title_fullStr |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
title_full_unstemmed |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
title_sort |
A problem with levels: how to engage a diverse IPE |
author |
Inayatullah,Naeem |
author_facet |
Inayatullah,Naeem Blaney,David L. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Blaney,David L. |
author2_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Inayatullah,Naeem Blaney,David L. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Eurocentrism Condemnation Imperative Exigophobia Atomism Social Explanation Levels Parts and Wholes Process |
topic |
Eurocentrism Condemnation Imperative Exigophobia Atomism Social Explanation Levels Parts and Wholes Process |
description |
Abstract Though welcome, Cohen's call for exchange across diverse perspectives in international political economy (IPE) evades the question: why have we remained unaware of or insensitive to the diversity that already exists? We follow John Hobson's claim that racism, imperialism and Eurocentrism disallow a western-dominated social science from engaging with diverse viewpoints. We argue further that a disciplinary bias towards a unit-level or atomistic understanding of social science precludes and disallows epistemological encounters in which actual diversity might be harnessed. We support this claim in two steps. First, we draw on Ghassan Hage's analysis of exigophobia, or the fear that social explanation inadvertently justifies horrendous actions and humanises their perpetrators. Exigophobia activates what we call the condemnation imperative: an eagerness to condemn an individual or group act, of fierce violence, for example, before one has tried to understand or explain it. Second, building on Nicholas Onuf's work on levels, we show that the disciplinary bias towards explanations which 'see' from the level of individual actors treats Europe or the west, in Hobson's terms, as 'self-constituting and exceptional'. When one neglects the structuring features of the whole, and assumes western 'pioneering agency', it is easy to treat non-western inferiority (irrationality, backwards culture, and so on) as an explanation of the relative successes and failures of a flattened planet of autonomous units. Though we endorse forms of social explanation that start from the whole as opposed to the parts, we favour the view that there are only simultaneous and continuous processes whose seeming mystical flow our descriptions cannot but freeze. We suggest that there are no levels, simply parts and wholes in process. |
publishDate |
2015 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2015-12-01 |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292015000300889 |
url |
http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292015000300889 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
10.1590/S0102-85292015000300004 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
text/html |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Relações Internacionais |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Relações Internacionais |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Contexto Internacional v.37 n.3 2015 reponame:Contexto Internacional instname:Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO) instacron:PUC_RIO |
instname_str |
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO) |
instacron_str |
PUC_RIO |
institution |
PUC_RIO |
reponame_str |
Contexto Internacional |
collection |
Contexto Internacional |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Contexto Internacional - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO) |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
cintjournal@puc-rio.br||contextointernacional@puc-rio.br |
_version_ |
1752127872298909696 |