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2 Lectura - Acharya. Global IR and Regional Worlds
2 Lectura - Acharya. Global IR and Regional Worlds
Amitav Acharya
American University
The discipline of International Relations (IR) does not reflect the voices, experiences, knowledge claims, and contribu-
tions of the vast majority of the societies and states in the world, and often marginalizes those outside the core countries
Acharya A. (2014) Global International Relations and Regional Worlds. International Studies Quarterly, doi: 10.1111/isqu.12171
© 2014 International Studies Association
648 Global IR and Regional Worlds
ernment and stability of the British Empire in India, and ference, and lack of freedom of expression have also
for the maintenance of the interests and honour of the stunted the development of IR as a global discipline. But
Honourable the East Indian Company. . .” (Roebuck the international studies community also bear responsibil-
1819:Introduction, xvi).1 ity for this state of affairs (Tickner 2003; Acharya and Bu-
The Fort William College acquired a potential for zan 2007, 2010; Tickner and Waever 2009).
becoming the “Oxford of the East” and its faculty the “inter- Peter Katzenstein (2014) observes that “The main event
preters of oriental civilization” (Islam 2012:para. 3). Among of the twentieth century may well have been decoloniza-
its activities were a series of public “disputations” (debates) tion, rather than World War I and II, despite the
featuring its European students and faculty. These covered unspeakable horrors they brought the world over.” Yet,
such topics as “The Asiatics are capable of as high a civiliza- how much of IR texts, discourses, and theory is woven
tion as the Europeans,” and “The natives of India under around the realities of colonization and decolonization,
the British Government enjoy a greater degree of tranquil- as opposed to the workings of the European international
ity, security and happiness than under any former govern- order, the ascent of the United States, and the Cold War?
ment” (Roebuck 1819: No. II,14–19). But its faculty fell into As a discipline, IR has neither fully accounted for, nor
two categories: the British Sahibs and the Indian Munshis come to terms with, colonialism and its legacy. Thus, the
from the developing world (Acharya and Buzan 2010; I regard “non-Western” or “post-Western” as part of a
Acharya 2011a)? broader challenge of reimagining IR as a global disci-
pline.7 I call this project Global International Relations. The
There are many such examples of ethnocentrism and
Global IR project transcends the distinction between West
exclusion in IR. They are also increasingly well known
and non-West—or any similar binary and mutually exclu-
(Neuman 1998; Acharya 2000a; Ling 2002; Arlene Tick-
sive categories. While these categories might persist as
ner 2003; J. Ann Tickner 2011a,b; Chowdhry and Nair
terms of convenience, they lose analytical significance in
2004; Thomas and Wilkin 2004; Smith 2006; Bilgin 2008,
the world of Global IR.
2013; Agathangelou and Ling 2009; Behera 2010; Shil-
In using the term “Global IR,” I am not calling for a
liam 2010; Tadjbakhsh 2010; Parashar 2013). The study
complete renaming of the discipline. So much for so
of IR is expanding and generating lots of excitement
long has been written of and about IR that it can perhaps
around the world. Consider, for example, the Annual
now claim to be a “heritage site”—one that, in my view,
Convention of International Studies in New Delhi in
we should preserve. Yet Global IR is not the same as tra-
December 2013, which I attended. This was not a meet-
ditional IR as we know it.
ing to set up an Indian School of IR, but to discuss issues
I should stress that Global IR constitutes not a theory,
tions. J. Ann Ticker (2011a:13), a former ISA President, accounts for all or most of them. It challenges construc-
puts it beautifully when she urges that “rather than tivism to fulfill its unrealized agenda in terms of taking
searching for one universal history, we need to uncover stock of different forms of agency in the creation and dif-
stories about forgotten spaces that respect difference, fusion of ideas and norms.
show tolerance and compassion, and are skeptical about Fourth, designating the field as “Global IR” does not
absolute truths.” This pluralistic universalism provides mean downgrading the importance of regions and reg-
the foundation of Global IR. ionalisms, nor the contribution of area studies. Instead,
Second, Global IR calls for IR to be more authenti- Global IR gives the center stage to regions and the
cally grounded in world history—rather than Western area studies tradition and approach. While the world is
history—and in the ideas, institutions, intellectual per- not fragmenting into regions, it is also not moving
spectives, and practices of Western and non-Western inexorably toward a seamless globality. Global IR calls
societies alike. Global IR not only transcends the bound- for the acknowledgment of regional diversity and
ary between the West and the Rest, but also recognizes agency. Global IR views regions not as fixed physical,
the voices, experiences, and values of all people in all cartographic, or cultural entities, but as dynamic, pur-
parts of the world. However, “bringing the Rest in” poseful, and socially constructed spaces (Acharya 2007).
ship (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment While mainstream IR theories view the so-called Third
Partnership (TTIP). Such forms of inter-regionalism World or South or Global South (I use these terms inter-
might help to bridge the gulf between geographic clus- changeably) as marginal to the “main story” of world poli-
ters. The idea of “regional worlds,” drawing from a syn- tics, some critical theories—including those associated
thesis of area studies and IR literatures, might offer a with postcolonialism and dependency schools—actually
more probable turn in the future trajectory of regional- thrive on this presumed marginality. Their advocates
ism—or at least one that would deserve attention and rightly criticize mainstream theories for excluding the
exploration alongside other more competitive forms of Global South, but do little exploration of alternative
regionalism. forms of agency from the latter, since recognizing that
Fifth, a truly Global IR must eschew cultural excep- agency might risk undermining the central part of their
tionalism and parochialism. Exceptionalism is the ten- narratives.
dency to present the characteristics of one’s own group While global disparities in material power show no
(society, state, or civilization) as homogenous, unique, signs of disappearing, we need to adopt a broader view of
and superior to those of others (Acharya 2001). Claims agency. In Global IR, agency is ideational as well as mate-
about exceptionalism frequently fall apart not just rial. It goes beyond military power and wealth and avoids
rary Southeast Asia. For a long while, IR scholars have decline or revival of the United States as a nation. Some
looked to the Mediterranean region as an inspiration and argue that the American-led liberal hegemony (Ikenberry
source for theory development. Examples include balance 2011:345) will persist and might even co-opt its potential
of power theory—Thucydides’s account of the Pelopon- challengers like China and other emerging powers. But it
nesian War, the Rome-Carthage rivalry, etc.—the republi- may be more plausible to think of fundamental shifts in
can security theory originating with the Roman republic the rules and institutions of global order, including the
(Deudney 2008), and constructivist contributions on con- possibility of a decentered world where no single power,
stitutive norms and culture of IR (Reus-Smit 2001; Lebow be it United States or China, exercises hegemony.
2008). Scholars base a good deal of the speculation and
By contrast, IR scholars pay no attention to classical debate over international order since the end of the Cold
interactions in the Indian Ocean region. Yet comparing War on patterns and lessons derived from Europe before
the classical Mediterranean region and classical Indian World War II (Mearsheimer 1990; Layne 1993; Wohlforth
Ocean challenges us to rethink the concept and practice 1999). Yet this Eurocentric understanding, which sees a
of power, legitimacy, and international orders, all of return to multipolarity, may turn out to be quite wrong.
which are central concepts in IR. The two regions dis- The world today is much more complex than the Euro-
Bilgin (2004a:25) calls the “multitude of contending embrace theoretical and comparative investigations.
perspectives” on regional orders “that have their roots While their primary focus remains area studies, they also
in alternative worldviews.” In the meantime, not only contribute to the conceptual and analytical development
have regional groups proliferated in the non-Western of IR as a discipline.
world, but the purpose and functions of regionalism A challenge for such scholarship is to come up with
have expanded considerably. Regionalism is no longer concepts and insights from one regional context that
geared mainly to achieving trade liberalization or con- may also have analytical relevance beyond that region.
flict-management, but also to managing transnational This is by no means an impossible demand. As Kang
issues such as the environment, refugees, migration, (2007:199) points out, “For too long, IR scholars have
human rights, counter-terrorism, internal conflicts, etc. derived theoretical propositions from the European
The proliferation of regional groups and the expansion experience and then treated them as deductive and uni-
of their tasks introduces a greater variety and diversity versal.” If European and North Atlantic regional affairs
to the design and operation of regional bodies. Not could be turned into IR theories, why couldn’t the
only is there greater variation between the EU model affairs of other areas?
and the rest of the world, but also between and among The second category of convergent scholarship may be
Sikkink, Finnemore, and Jurovitch, Helleiner, and Ach- lier civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia but also as a
arya in Global Governance 2014). For example, Sikkink’s “bridge of the world,” and as the pioneer of the world
(2014) notion of “norm protagonism” describes the pio- economy (Hobson 2004:29–49). Islamic scholars and
neering role of Latin American countries in promoting rulers during the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and in
the idea of universal human rights. Such work constitutes subsequent periods not only translated and preserved
a rich and promising area of enquiry for studying the life Greek, Roman, and Indian scientific and philosophical
cycle of different types of ideas and norms, be they “bad” ideas, but also contributed to that knowledge through
ones that sustain violent extremism, or good ones such as their own innovations. These ideas played their part in
the idea of universal human rights, where the role of the making of the European Renaissance and modern
regional or local agency has been often neglected. Europe (Carboni, Trinita, and Marwell 2007; Saliba
2007). This is reminiscent of the crucial role of Chinese
translations of Buddhist texts from India, which preserved
Investigate the Mutual Learning among Civilizations, of Which
them for the posterity after Buddhism more or less disap-
there is More Historical Evidence than there is for the Clash of
peared in India itself.
Civilizations
An idea that is as false and pernicious as the “clash of
is not just to make the study of IR “safe” for diversity but Acharya, Amitav. (2011a) Dialogue and Discovery. In Search of
also be enriched by that diversity. International Relations Theories Beyond the West. Millennium:
In addressing this challenge, Global IR scholars should Journal of International Studies 39 (3): 619–637.
Acharya, Amitav. (2011b) Norm Subsidiarity and Regional Orders:
be especially aware of the problem of “neomarginaliza-
Sovereignty, Regionalism and Rule Making in the Third World.
tion” in IR scholarship. Neomarginalization occurs when International Studies Quarterly 55 (1): 95–123.
attempts to respect diversity and become more inclusive Acharya, Amitav. (2013a) Rethinking Power, Institutions and Ideas in
in IR theories have led to opposite outcomes. Take, for World Politics: Whose IR? Abdingon, Oxford, and New York, NY:
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“the first global attempt to speak of equality” (Persaud Acharya, Amitav. (2013b) Civilizations in Embrace: The Spread of Ideas and
and Walker 2001:374). But the two major theories of IR, the Transformation of Power. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian
realism and liberalism, stand accused of ethnocentrism Studies.
and racism (Hobson 2012; Henderson 2013). And while Acharya, Amitav. (2013c) The Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean:
Two Paradigms of International Order? Paper Presented to the
race has been receiving attention in IR (Bell 2013:1),
54th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association,
there remains a problem with “the manner of its current San Francisco, CA, April 3–6.
inclusion which is basically one of paternalism” (Persaud
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