Decentring Global Power: The Merits of a Foucauldian Approach to International Relations Export

@article{citeulike:5925600, abstract = {In recent times, the value of a critical approach to the study of International Relations (IR) that makes use of the concepts and methods of Michel Foucault has (again) been put on trial. I will argue in this article that both Foucauldians and their critics often neglect Foucault's radical epistemology that always prioritises practices over political theory. The demand of such an approach is the relentless decentring and diversifying of totalising and unifying accounts of (global) power relations, resulting in a continuous challenge of the traditional meta-theories and concepts of any academic discipline—including IR. The present article will follow this approach and challenge, through the investigation of a particular case of what is commonly perceived as an exercise in “global governance”, the idea that contemporary (global) power relations can be depicted solely through the lens of neoliberalism, sovereignty, or biopolitics. Instead, it will show that (global) power is located in a complex and flexible constellation of diverse and contradictory, mutually constituting and mutually destabilising strategies and tactics at particular sites.}, author = {Rosenow, Doerthe}, citeulike-article-id = {5925600}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600820903198891}, doi = {10.1080/13600820903198891}, journal = {Global Society}, keywords = {foucault, global\_governance, opensta}, number = {4}, pages = {497--517}, posted-at = {2009-10-12 10:20:40}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Routledge}, title = {Decentring Global Power: The Merits of a Foucauldian Approach to International Relations}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600820903198891}, volume = {23}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5925600 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5925600 N2 - In recent times, the value of a critical approach to the study of International Relations (IR) that makes use of the concepts and methods of Michel Foucault has (again) been put on trial. I will argue in this article that both Foucauldians and their critics often neglect Foucault's radical epistemology that always prioritises practices over political theory. The demand of such an approach is the relentless decentring and diversifying of totalising and unifying accounts of (global) power relations, resulting in a continuous challenge of the traditional meta-theories and concepts of any academic discipline—including IR. The present article will follow this approach and challenge, through the investigation of a particular case of what is commonly perceived as an exercise in “global governance”, the idea that contemporary (global) power relations can be depicted solely through the lens of neoliberalism, sovereignty, or biopolitics. Instead, it will show that (global) power is located in a complex and flexible constellation of diverse and contradictory, mutually constituting and mutually destabilising strategies and tactics at particular sites. IS - 4 JF - Global Society EP - 517 TI - Decentring Global Power: The Merits of a Foucauldian Approach to International Relations PB - Routledge VL - 23 SP - 497 KW - foucault KW - global_governance KW - opensta AU - Rosenow, Doerthe PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600820903198891 ER -