Description
In recent times, there has been an increased engagement with non-Western perspectives in international studies. One of the reasons is that colonisers of the past, mostly the European powers, have hidden intentionally or unintentionally or forgotten to acknowledge that knowledge produced in international studies was from a particular vantage point but presented as universal. Therefore, scholars from erstwhile colonies have started to speak. They are highlighting the epistemological limitations of international studies when seen from a limited vantage point. This paper emphasises the fact that this new exercise is not about displacing/discarding everything that existed before. It is also not about adding non-Western perspectives to international studies at the periphery by keeping the Western perspective as the core and norm. In this work, we are highlighting the fact that when newer perspectives are added to already existing ones, both Western and non-Western perspectives are evolving and changing. To cite this development, we explore what is Manu’s Dharma and what happens when Manu’s Dharma (based on hierarchy) meets Morgenthau’s Realism (based on anarchy).
This work by unpacking ontological and epistemological connections follows an eclectic approach where the partnership between past, present and future events are seen. It is qualitative and adopts an inductive method. In doing so, we have punctured mega narratives of Western Masculine Realism and deconstructed it with a Hindu Masculine version of Manu’s Dharma. The plurality of context and text is acknowledged. Here, neither Dharma nor Realism is monolithic. Therefore, this work is a limited effort, focusing on particular perspectives within the larger paradigm.
