Radicalising Global IR: Modernity, Capitalism, and the Question of Eurocentrism

Abstract

Abstract Theorising a non-Eurocentric “global international relations” has been a main preoccupation of scholars associated with international political sociology (IPS). In this article, I argue that scholars within the IPS tradition have provided a powerful critique of, but no clear alternative to, Eurocentrism. This is partly attributable to their insufficient problematisation of the historical narratives that propel capitalism backwards into history. By problematising “presentist” conceptions of capitalism, I show that a critical dialogue between IPS and “political Marxism” helps to introduce an alternative foundation for anti-Eurocentrism, which shifts our focus from “capitalist modernity” to “radical modernity”. Radical modernity resists hierarchical colonial ontologies by emphasising the universality of egalitarian social patterns rooted in our common, non-capitalist past. I contend that radical modernity is an enduring legacy that is found universally, transmitted interactively, and revitalised continuously across time and space, hence providing an alternative base on which to theorise and globalise the “international” in a non-Eurocentric way.