Description
In this paper, an argument is made to suggest that no theory of international politics can be articulated without mentioning at least one short-term present time perspective. The argument is based upon two primary functions that these time perspectives perform within a theory; they outline what the necessary and sufficient conditions of international politics are and how international politics is problematised within a theory. This paper unpacks both functions and their effects in detail to illustrate how short-term present time perspectives shape claims within a theory. The resulting insights indicate how these time perspectives delimit a theory and subsequently affect how claims about international politics in the past, present, and future are analysed, discussed, and understood by readers viewing international politics through a theory.
