Re-orienting International Relations: On Pragmatism,Pluralism and Practical Reasoning

Abstract

This essay presents the case for a re-orientation of International Relations (IR) in terms of the pragmatist ethos sketched in the work of John Dewey. It argues that contemporary IR theory is characterised by the threat of theoreticism and that this danger is heightened by the confusion between pictures and theories. The essay goes on to indicate how a pragmatist orientation to issues of government in terms of a processual ethic could provide a framework within which the pluralism characteristic of contemporary IR is reconceived in terms of a mutual agonism (rather than antagonism) in the service of practical reasoning and judgement. Viewing IR as a form of practical philosophy oriented to the government of the common affairs of humanity, this orientation stresses the distinct roles that accounts directed to world-disclosure and those directed to action-coordination play in IR and argues that the former are crucial to reflection on problem constitution, while the latter are vital to reflection on problems.