Description
Who matters in the study of international politics? To date, IR and IPT have been dominated by ideal theories that begin by positing a set of abstracted agents (typically states) and relations between them based on parsimonious, simplified understandings of static interests. Even constructivist theories that recognize evolution in agents' identities and interests, nonetheless typically begin by assuming pre-existing ideal-typical agents arguing, for example, that 'anarchy is what STATES make of it' and bracketing the constitution of the state actor. This tendency towards ideal theory has analytical utility, but, when pursued at the exclusion of non-ideal theory, has the pernicious effect of depoliticizing ontological questions that are, in reality, deeply political. To remedy this gap, this paper adapts Axel Honneth's theory of recognition to the international arena, arguing that international agency is an emergent property of social systems. While much literature in IR on recognition focuses on legal recognition between states, this paper argues for a more foundational conception of the international as an arena of recognition between and across social groups. This theorization has three distinct advantages: First, it repoliticizes the constitution of international agency that is too often assumed in scholarly models. Second, it provides, in Honneth’s words, a “social theory with normative content,” facilitating a new bridge between positive and normative questions. Third, it points to a new empirical agenda examining struggles for recognition in international politics beyond the state, including over the inclusion or exclusion of new actors, interests, or relations. The paper illustrates this framework’s utility with reference to multiple examples, including international reparations, war crimes tribunal, and climate governance.
