Anarchy in the IR!

Abstract

Studies of popular culture, including music, have begun to make inroads in the study of international relations (IR) over the last two decades or so, and as titles such as War (U2) and Combat Rock (The Clash) indicates; popular music has long taken a keen interest in our field of study. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the stunning parallels between popular music and IR theory. From Thucydides quoting the Delian “Hymn to Apollo” to Colin Wight asking “What's the Frequency Kenneth?”, IR theory, and popular music have been intertwined like a string of DNA eating spaghetti. Consider for instance the geographical focus; in both IR theory and popular music the goal for any aspiring artist is to make it in the United States, or at least the United Kingdom, but it proves time and again to be hard for any outsiders to make it in these markets without physically relocating. Meanwhile, the powerhouses of the Anglo-American world dominate the fields globally. In both fields, apart from early pioneers (EH Carr/The Beatles) it has proved hard even for Britons to make it “over there.” No rule without exception; both fields have older, foreign born, sages that are brought to the fore in the United States on special occasions (Henry Kissinger/Rolling Stones). The most noteworthy simultaneity is nonetheless to be found in the chronological trajectories of the two fields since the end of the World War II. IR theory entered a mainly realist phase in the late 1940s, epitomized by the publication of Politics Among Nations in 1948. Slightly later, in 1951, the term “rock and roll” was coined, and even the most cursory glance should convince anyone that realism is …