Introduction to the Special Issue: The multiple births of International Relations

Vineet Thakur,Karen Smith

doi:10.1017/s0260210521000498

Vineet Thakur, Karen Smith

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210521000498

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Abstract

AbstractDisciplinary histories are, by default, complicit in the production of subjective memories as truth. This Special Issue builds on the existing scholarship on rethinking IR's disciplinary history by expanding its geographical focus beyond the West, and explores how IR came to define itself as a self-contained body of knowledge that is distinct from other fields of study in different parts of the world. These alternative histories enable us to appreciate that the development of IR as a global discipline was only possible through a transnational circulation of key ideas such as sovereignty, empire, Commonwealth and, especially, competing notions of the ‘international’. In addition, they bring attention to the purpose of knowledge and the politics of its production, and allow for both democratisation as well as discursive plurality.

Highlights

Introduction to the Special IssueThe multiple births of International RelationsVineet Thakur1* and Karen Smith2(Received 2 March 2021; revised 18 June 2021; accepted 9 August 2021) AbstractDisciplinary histories are, by default, complicit in the production of subjective memories as truth
This Special Issue builds on the existing scholarship on rethinking International Relations (IR)’s disciplinary history by expanding its geographical focus beyond the West, and explores how IR came to define itself as a self-contained body of knowledge that is distinct from other fields of study in different parts of the world
These alternative histories enable us to appreciate that the development of IR as a global discipline was only possible through a transnational circulation of key ideas such as sovereignty, empire, Commonwealth and, especially, competing notions of the ‘international’

Summary

Introduction

Introduction to the Special IssueThe multiple births of International RelationsVineet Thakur1* and Karen Smith2(Received 2 March 2021; revised 18 June 2021; accepted 9 August 2021) AbstractDisciplinary histories are, by default, complicit in the production of subjective memories as truth. This Special Issue builds on the existing scholarship on rethinking IR’s disciplinary history by expanding its geographical focus beyond the West, and explores how IR came to define itself as a self-contained body of knowledge that is distinct from other fields of study in different parts of the world.

Results

Conclusion