International Theory at the Margins

International Theory at the Margins reprints 13 of the author’s essays, all of which originally appeared in publications not often or readily accessed by most scholars and advanced students in the field of International Relations. They address themes of marginal concern to international theorists at the time of their publication (ranging from 1982 to 2018). They explore philosophical issues, such as reconciling social construction with materiality. They work through conceptual issues, such as relating power to powers. They touch on historical issues, such as epochal change in the modern world. They raise ethical issues, such as reliance on virtue. They investigate the properties of language such that the ‘world’ is what we say about it. The essays in this volume approach these themes, and the issues they raise, from a variety of perspectives, variously augmenting the author’s well-known treatments of performative speech, rules, and the conditions of rule in every society, including international society. They build on the work of giants from Aristotle to Foucault. They draw on the work of diverse contemporary international theorists, including Johan Galtung, Morton Kaplan, Joseph Nye and James Rosenau. They evince a disposition to systematize what others leave aside. They raise more questions than they answer. They stay at the margins and make a virtue of doing so.