Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

Drawing upon philosophy and social theory, Social Theory of International Politics develops a theory of the international system as a social construction. Alexander Wendt clarifies the central claims of the constructivist approach, presenting a structural and idealist worldview which contrasts with the individualism and materialism which underpins much mainstream international relations theory. He builds a cultural theory of international politics, which takes whether states view each other as enemies, rivals or friends as a fundamental determinant. Wendt characterises these roles as 'cultures of anarchy', described as Hobbesian, Lockean and Kantian respectively. These cultures are shared ideas which help shape state interests and capabilities, and generate tendencies in the international system. The book describes four factors which can drive structural change from one culture to another - interdependence, common fate, homogenization, and self-restraint - and examines the effects of capitalism and democracy in the emergence of a Kantian culture in the West.

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Social Theory of International Politics

Wars. Somanywars.Wars outside andwars inside.Culturalwars, science wars, and wars against terrorism.Wars against poverty andwars against the poor. Wars against ignorance and wars out of ignorance. My question is simple: Should we be at war, too, we, the scholars, the intellectuals? Is it really our duty to add fresh ruins to fields of ruins? Is it really the task of the humanities to add deconstruction to destruction? More iconoclasm to iconoclasm?What has become of the critical spirit? Has it run out of steam? Quite simply, my worry is that it might not be aiming at the right target. To remain in the metaphorical atmosphere of the time, military experts constantly revise their strategic doctrines, their contingency plans, the size, direction, and technology of their projectiles, their smart bombs, theirmissiles; I wonder why we, we alone, would be saved from those sorts of revisions. It does not seem to me that we have been as quick, in academia, to prepare ourselves for new threats, new dangers, new tasks, new targets. Are wenot like thosemechanical toys that endlesslymake the samegesturewhen everything else has changed around them? Would it not be rather terrible if we were still training young kids—yes, young recruits, young cadets—for wars that are no longer possible, fighting enemies long gone, conquering territories that no longer exist, leaving them ill-equipped in the face of threats we had not anticipated, for whichwe are so thoroughlyunprepared? Generals have always been accused of being on the ready one war late— especially French generals, especially these days. Would it be so surprising,

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Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is a systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. It brings together three central approaches, Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology, in order to establish a dialogue between different forms of discourse analysis often kept apart by disciplinary boundaries. The book introduces the three approaches in a clear and easily comprehensible manner, explaining the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach as well as the methodological guidelines and tools they provide for empirical discourse analysis. The authors also demonstrate the possibilities for combining different discourse analytical and non-discourse analytical approaches in empirical study. Finally, they contextualize discourse analysis within the social constructionist debate about critical social research, rejecting the view that a critical stance is incompatible with social constructionist premises and arguing that critique must be an inherent part of social research.

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Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method

This paper sets out an approach to the analysis of political power in terms of problematics of government. It argues against an overvaluation of the 'problem of the State' in political debate and social theory. A number of conceptual tools are suggested for the analysis of the many and varied alliances between political and other authorities that seek to govern economic activity, social life and individual conduct. Modern political rationalities and governmental technologies are shown to be intrinsically linked to developments in knowledge and to the powers of expertise. The characteristics of liberal problematics of government are investigated, and it is argued that they are dependent upon technologies for 'governing at a distance', seeking to create locales, entities and persons able to operate a regulated autonomy. The analysis is exemplified through an investigation of welfarism as a mode of 'social' government. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of neo-liberalism which demonstrates that the analytical language structured by the philosophical opposition of state and civil society is unable to comprehend contemporary transformations in modes of exercise of political power.(1).

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Political power beyond the State: problematics of government

History of the Human

Quite the most noticeable thing about this book at first apprehension is its size (6x9x2 inches) and weight (2 lb; the paperback) and length (870 pp.). BIG then, and heavy enough to sink the most well-disposed reviewer's heart. Even a casual reader (can a book of these dimensions have a casual reader?)2 might balk at the labour it promises. Like Tolstoy's War and Peace or Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu, Collins's Gravity's Shadow could gain a large reputation among a crowd of STSers claiming interactional expertise with respect to it (bluffers, I mean), yet acquire only a small core set of (self-congratulating, cover-to-cover) readers; those, that is, with true contributory expertise in the project of writing/reading the text.3 (Who may comprise this group is the topic of the next section of this review.) So you, the potential purchaser and/or reader will want to know, more than you usually do: Is it worth it? Is the payoff worth the investment? If you are a fan of Harry Collins, as I am, then the answer must be yes, despite some reservations. This book, before it is anything else, is Collins's magnum opus. And if you are a fan of detailed reportage, of inside stories, of the sense of having (almost, virtually) Been There, in this great 40-year adventure of the search for gravitational waves4 then again yes, most certainly. The story is very interesting, and the tale well told. One of the most generally relevant fea tures of the story, which should make it appealing to historians of late 20th century science, concerns how a small, speculative science project was turned into a well-funded piece of Big Science; or of how 'magic' lost out to organ ization; or of 'how science by lone seeker became science by international

Magnum Opus: When Harry Met Joe, and What Follows

This essay argues that the really useful character of reflexivity is that it enables a radical critique of representation and its conventional material and rhetorical practices. It is uniquely able to produce paradox and thus disrupt discourses by undermining authorial privilege. Because Fuller's social epistemology is insensitive to its own reflexive implications, and limits itself to normative questions about knowledge policy, it is too limited — and limiting — to provide a context that can nurture reflexivity.

Social epistemology and reflexivity: Two versions of how to be really useful

This is1 a very good book. It is multiply interesting: to people in science studies, to philosophers and ethnographers, to anybody interested in the social sciences of medicine. It is rich and multi-layered. Beautifully written. Unusually well-made (as a material object; Duke University Press was a sound choice). Buy it and read it; think about it; then use it and cite it and read it again. Above all, take pleasure in it. In an ideal world, in which reviewing a text was simply and commonsensically a matter of ‘giving one’s opinion’ as a guide and recommendation for those who currently do not know the text, that would be it; job done. But of course, that is not the main function of reviewing in this ‘scientific’ context (for a comprehensive analysis of the functions of scientific reviews, see Restrepo Forero [2003]). And anyway, it would be quite surprising if there are many readers of this journal, and hence this review, who are currently unaware of The Body Multiple. Arthur Frank, in his highly complimentary review in the American Journal of Sociology (no less), suggested that ‘Awards committees should take notice of this major contribution’ (Frank, 2003: 534). They have: the book won the 2004 Ludwik Fleck Prize of the Society for Social Studies of Science (thereby providing Mol with an ‘Author meets Critics’ session at the Society’s Paris conference) as well as the British Sociological Association’s Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize, 2004. The commonsense function of this particular review is thus very likely to be redundant. You already know this book. You have already been told, officially, that it is good. At any rate, I am going to proceed on that assumption. Book reviewing is a relatively lowly task in the academic division of labours. Not too many British academics will (hope to) include one in their Research Assessment Exercise returns. (I haven’t written one in years.) The

Malcolm Ashmore

Papers

History of the Human

Magnum Opus: When Harry Met Joe, and What Follows

Social epistemology and reflexivity: Two versions of how to be really useful

Book Review: The Life Inside/The Left-Hand Side

The Naturally-Occuring Chat Machine: Newsgroup Messages