Why IR needs theory/practice debates: Or, from enlightenment to romanticism to enlightened romanticism*

Abstract

This essay identifies the Theory/Practice problematic as one of, if not the, main axis of contemporary IR studies as it is used to determine the relative worth of differing IR approaches. It details how the debates in CRIA's special section IR Theory in Practice: Entirely Academic? trace the intellectual journey made by IR scholars through the Enlightenment (by Realism) and Romantic accounts (by Critical Theory) to the present day ‘Enlightened Romantic’ approach of social constructivism. Through a detailed analysis and critique of the articles in the special section, the essay concludes that it is through this type of ritual return to the question of the relationship between Theory and Practice in international relations that IR as an academic discipline is normalised and legitimised, and in this way resists the potentially destabilising influences of the real ‘dissident margins’.