Stephen Hobden | University of East London (original) (raw)
Papers by Stephen Hobden
Manchester University Press eBooks, Feb 28, 2023
Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Aug 1, 2015
This article examines the potential contribution of the work of Theodor Adorno to the development... more This article examines the potential contribution of the work of Theodor Adorno to the development of a posthuman analysis of international relations. Despite a recent blossoming of "Adorno studies," his writings on nature, particularly his concerns regarding human relations with other species, have received comparatively little attention. The article argues that many of the central concerns driving the recent development of posthuman analyses of international relations overlap with some of Adorno's core preoccupations. In Dialectic of Enlightenment in particular, much concern is directed at the perceived disenchantment with nature and the impacts of this disenchantment both on human relations with the rest of nature, but also with inter-human relations. Adorno's focus on the attention to suffering being the "condition for all truth" is not restricted simply to the human and coincides with the ethical concerns of posthuman approaches. Finally, whilst it has been claimed that Adorno's work, especially his notion of the totally administered society, leads to a political impasse, it will be suggested here that recent work by Fabian Freyenhagen on the practical elements of Adorno's philosophy suggest that our priority, rather than living rightly, should be on "living less wrongly."
Review of International Studies, Apr 1, 2001
2 I owe considerable thanks also to Tarak Bakarwi, John Hobson, Steve Smith, and Colin Wight who ... more 2 I owe considerable thanks also to Tarak Bakarwi, John Hobson, Steve Smith, and Colin Wight who read and commented on an earlier draft of this response. Errors, misinterpretations and inconsistencies are entirely mine.
International Relations, Dec 1, 1995
Scholars of International Relations have shown considerable interest in Historical Sociology over... more Scholars of International Relations have shown considerable interest in Historical Sociology over the last few years. One manifestation of this is the increasing frequency of references to the works of writers such as Skocpol, Tilly and Mann in International Relations journals. This interest has concentrated on these writers’ approaches to the state, and this is generally reflected in the substance of these references.’ I
International Relations
This article explores what it means to ‘animalise’ International Relations (IR). The posthuman mo... more This article explores what it means to ‘animalise’ International Relations (IR). The posthuman move in the social sciences has involved the process of de-centring the human, replacing an anthropocentric focus with a view of the human as embedded within a complex network of inter-species relations. In a previous work we drew attention to the lack of analysis within International Relations of the key role played by more-than human animals in situations of conflict. The current COVID-19 pandemic again indicates that an analysis of international relations that does not have at its core an understanding of a more than human world is always going to be an incomplete account. The paper argues for the animalising of International Relations in order to enhance inclusivity, and suggests five ways in which this might be approached. As it becomes increasingly clear that a climate-related collapse is imminent, we argue for a transformative approach to the discipline, stressing interlinked networ...
International Relations and Historical Sociology, 2006
Security Dialogue, 2015
Recent interventions from a ‘posthumanist’ or ‘new materialist’ perspective have highlighted the ... more Recent interventions from a ‘posthumanist’ or ‘new materialist’ perspective have highlighted the embedded character of human systems within a ‘panarchy’ of human and non-human systems. This article brings attention to a very particular element of materiality, one with a profound significance for issues of security – relations between human and non-human animals in instances of conflict. It is an indication of the deeply human-centred character of both international relations and security studies that almost none of the central texts mention the very significant roles that non-human animals have in the conduct of war. We argue that the character of war would have been radically different but for the forced participation by an enormous range of non-human animals. Even though, with the improvements in transportation over the last century, non-human animals are less evident in the context of the movement of people and equipment, they still play a significant number of roles in the conte...
Millennium: Journal of International Studies
Zoonotic pandemics shine an uncomfortable light on how human lifeways facilitate the sharing of p... more Zoonotic pandemics shine an uncomfortable light on how human lifeways facilitate the sharing of pathogens across species. Yet our lack of acknowledgement of our shared vulnerability with those non-human animals we raise or hunt to kill and eat, whose habitats we encroach upon and destroy, whose populations we undermine and threaten, has led us to the current human health crisis. The predominant political response to zoonotic pandemic has been bordering practices of surveillance, securitisation and bodily separation. These practices reflect intra-human and species hierarchies. They also fail to acknowledge the extent to which the boundaries of species are leaky, and are continually breached. A posthumanist zoonotic politics seeks not to attempt to border the leaky boundaries of species, but rather to insist on a re-ordering of species relations towards less exploitative and extractive ways of sharing the planet with the myriad creatures that constitute our world. Politique zoonotique...
A debate over the possibilities for foundations of knowledge has been a key feature of theoretica... more A debate over the possibilities for foundations of knowledge has been a key feature of theoretical discussions in the discipline of International Relations. A number of recent contributions suggest that this debate is still active. This article offers a contribution to this debate by suggesting that the study of complexity may provide a contingent foundation for the study of international relations. We examine the grounds on which such a claim might be made, and examine the implications for taking complexity as a foundational claim. Keywords complexity theory, foundations, differentiated complexity, international relations International Relations has, for over 20 years, been engaged in what has vari-ously been called the positivism versus post-positivism dispute, “Third Debate,” or sometimes “Fourth Debate. ” Central to this discussion has been the issue of “foundations”—in other words, what are the bases for the claims to knowl-edge that we make. The dispute in International Relati...
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017
Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2001
Contemporary Sociology, 2003
Part I Introduction: Bringing historical sociology back into international relations 1 What's at ... more Part I Introduction: Bringing historical sociology back into international relations 1 What's at stake in 'bringing historical sociology back into international relations'? Transcending 'chronofetishism' and 'tempocentrism' in international relations 3 JOHN M. HOBSON 2 Historical sociology: back to the future of international relations? STEPHEN HOBDEN Part II Historical sociologies of international relations 3 The two waves of Weberian historical sociology in international relations JOHN M. HOBSON 4 Globality and historical sociology: state, revolution and war revisited MARTIN SHAW 5 Historical sociology and constructivism: an estranged past, a federated future? MICHAEL BARNETT 6 The idea of history and history with ideas 120 CHRISTIAN REUS-SMIT v vi Contents 7 World system analysis, historical sociology and international relations: the difference a hyphen makes BARRY K. GILLS 8 Towards a critical historical sociology of transnational harm ANDREW LINKLATER 9 Critical historical materialism and international law: imagining international law as praxis A. CLAIRE CUTLER 10 International systems in world history: remaking the study of international relations BARRY BUZAN AND RICHARD LITTLE Part III Conclusion: The future of historical sociology in international relations 11 Historical sociology and international relations theory STEVE SMITH
The Globalization of World Politics, 2017
This chapter examines the contribution of Marxism to the study of international relations. It fir... more This chapter examines the contribution of Marxism to the study of international relations. It first considers whether globalization is a new phenomenon or a long-standing feature of capitalist development, and whether ‘crisis’ is an inevitable feature of capitalism, and if so, whether capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. The chapter proceeds by discussing a number of core features common to Marxist approaches as well as the internationalization of Karl Marx's ideas by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently by writers in the world-system framework. It also explains how Frankfurt School critical theory, and Antonio Gramsci and his various followers, introduced an analysis of culture into Marxist analysis. Two case studies are presented, one relating to neoliberalism in the developing world and the other to the Occupy movement. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the global economy is the prime determinant of the character of world politics.
Interfacehs Revista De Saude Meio Ambiente E Sustentabilidade, Feb 29, 2012
Anarchist Studies, 2018
In previous work, we have argued that there are considerable areas of overlap between anarchism a... more In previous work, we have argued that there are considerable areas of overlap between anarchism and complexity thinking, in particular because both explore the possibilities for the development of order without a specific source of authority. In more recent interventions we have developed a posthuman world view as a political project based on a foundation in complexity thinking. Hierarchical and exclusive forms of social organisation are usually understood by anarchists to be forms of domination. It is unsurprising then, that the history of anarchist thought and practical political engagement demonstrates a concern with an eclectic range of dominations. In this paper, we argue that in questioning our treatment of the environment, or ‘nature’ and in problematising some of our relations with non-human beings and things, some anarchism usefully informs the politics of posthumanism. We trace the past and contemporary linkages between anarchism and posthumanist thinking, drawing on liter...
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017
Manchester University Press eBooks, Feb 28, 2023
Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Aug 1, 2015
This article examines the potential contribution of the work of Theodor Adorno to the development... more This article examines the potential contribution of the work of Theodor Adorno to the development of a posthuman analysis of international relations. Despite a recent blossoming of "Adorno studies," his writings on nature, particularly his concerns regarding human relations with other species, have received comparatively little attention. The article argues that many of the central concerns driving the recent development of posthuman analyses of international relations overlap with some of Adorno's core preoccupations. In Dialectic of Enlightenment in particular, much concern is directed at the perceived disenchantment with nature and the impacts of this disenchantment both on human relations with the rest of nature, but also with inter-human relations. Adorno's focus on the attention to suffering being the "condition for all truth" is not restricted simply to the human and coincides with the ethical concerns of posthuman approaches. Finally, whilst it has been claimed that Adorno's work, especially his notion of the totally administered society, leads to a political impasse, it will be suggested here that recent work by Fabian Freyenhagen on the practical elements of Adorno's philosophy suggest that our priority, rather than living rightly, should be on "living less wrongly."
Review of International Studies, Apr 1, 2001
2 I owe considerable thanks also to Tarak Bakarwi, John Hobson, Steve Smith, and Colin Wight who ... more 2 I owe considerable thanks also to Tarak Bakarwi, John Hobson, Steve Smith, and Colin Wight who read and commented on an earlier draft of this response. Errors, misinterpretations and inconsistencies are entirely mine.
International Relations, Dec 1, 1995
Scholars of International Relations have shown considerable interest in Historical Sociology over... more Scholars of International Relations have shown considerable interest in Historical Sociology over the last few years. One manifestation of this is the increasing frequency of references to the works of writers such as Skocpol, Tilly and Mann in International Relations journals. This interest has concentrated on these writers’ approaches to the state, and this is generally reflected in the substance of these references.’ I
International Relations
This article explores what it means to ‘animalise’ International Relations (IR). The posthuman mo... more This article explores what it means to ‘animalise’ International Relations (IR). The posthuman move in the social sciences has involved the process of de-centring the human, replacing an anthropocentric focus with a view of the human as embedded within a complex network of inter-species relations. In a previous work we drew attention to the lack of analysis within International Relations of the key role played by more-than human animals in situations of conflict. The current COVID-19 pandemic again indicates that an analysis of international relations that does not have at its core an understanding of a more than human world is always going to be an incomplete account. The paper argues for the animalising of International Relations in order to enhance inclusivity, and suggests five ways in which this might be approached. As it becomes increasingly clear that a climate-related collapse is imminent, we argue for a transformative approach to the discipline, stressing interlinked networ...
International Relations and Historical Sociology, 2006
Security Dialogue, 2015
Recent interventions from a ‘posthumanist’ or ‘new materialist’ perspective have highlighted the ... more Recent interventions from a ‘posthumanist’ or ‘new materialist’ perspective have highlighted the embedded character of human systems within a ‘panarchy’ of human and non-human systems. This article brings attention to a very particular element of materiality, one with a profound significance for issues of security – relations between human and non-human animals in instances of conflict. It is an indication of the deeply human-centred character of both international relations and security studies that almost none of the central texts mention the very significant roles that non-human animals have in the conduct of war. We argue that the character of war would have been radically different but for the forced participation by an enormous range of non-human animals. Even though, with the improvements in transportation over the last century, non-human animals are less evident in the context of the movement of people and equipment, they still play a significant number of roles in the conte...
Millennium: Journal of International Studies
Zoonotic pandemics shine an uncomfortable light on how human lifeways facilitate the sharing of p... more Zoonotic pandemics shine an uncomfortable light on how human lifeways facilitate the sharing of pathogens across species. Yet our lack of acknowledgement of our shared vulnerability with those non-human animals we raise or hunt to kill and eat, whose habitats we encroach upon and destroy, whose populations we undermine and threaten, has led us to the current human health crisis. The predominant political response to zoonotic pandemic has been bordering practices of surveillance, securitisation and bodily separation. These practices reflect intra-human and species hierarchies. They also fail to acknowledge the extent to which the boundaries of species are leaky, and are continually breached. A posthumanist zoonotic politics seeks not to attempt to border the leaky boundaries of species, but rather to insist on a re-ordering of species relations towards less exploitative and extractive ways of sharing the planet with the myriad creatures that constitute our world. Politique zoonotique...
A debate over the possibilities for foundations of knowledge has been a key feature of theoretica... more A debate over the possibilities for foundations of knowledge has been a key feature of theoretical discussions in the discipline of International Relations. A number of recent contributions suggest that this debate is still active. This article offers a contribution to this debate by suggesting that the study of complexity may provide a contingent foundation for the study of international relations. We examine the grounds on which such a claim might be made, and examine the implications for taking complexity as a foundational claim. Keywords complexity theory, foundations, differentiated complexity, international relations International Relations has, for over 20 years, been engaged in what has vari-ously been called the positivism versus post-positivism dispute, “Third Debate,” or sometimes “Fourth Debate. ” Central to this discussion has been the issue of “foundations”—in other words, what are the bases for the claims to knowl-edge that we make. The dispute in International Relati...
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017
Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2001
Contemporary Sociology, 2003
Part I Introduction: Bringing historical sociology back into international relations 1 What's at ... more Part I Introduction: Bringing historical sociology back into international relations 1 What's at stake in 'bringing historical sociology back into international relations'? Transcending 'chronofetishism' and 'tempocentrism' in international relations 3 JOHN M. HOBSON 2 Historical sociology: back to the future of international relations? STEPHEN HOBDEN Part II Historical sociologies of international relations 3 The two waves of Weberian historical sociology in international relations JOHN M. HOBSON 4 Globality and historical sociology: state, revolution and war revisited MARTIN SHAW 5 Historical sociology and constructivism: an estranged past, a federated future? MICHAEL BARNETT 6 The idea of history and history with ideas 120 CHRISTIAN REUS-SMIT v vi Contents 7 World system analysis, historical sociology and international relations: the difference a hyphen makes BARRY K. GILLS 8 Towards a critical historical sociology of transnational harm ANDREW LINKLATER 9 Critical historical materialism and international law: imagining international law as praxis A. CLAIRE CUTLER 10 International systems in world history: remaking the study of international relations BARRY BUZAN AND RICHARD LITTLE Part III Conclusion: The future of historical sociology in international relations 11 Historical sociology and international relations theory STEVE SMITH
The Globalization of World Politics, 2017
This chapter examines the contribution of Marxism to the study of international relations. It fir... more This chapter examines the contribution of Marxism to the study of international relations. It first considers whether globalization is a new phenomenon or a long-standing feature of capitalist development, and whether ‘crisis’ is an inevitable feature of capitalism, and if so, whether capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. The chapter proceeds by discussing a number of core features common to Marxist approaches as well as the internationalization of Karl Marx's ideas by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently by writers in the world-system framework. It also explains how Frankfurt School critical theory, and Antonio Gramsci and his various followers, introduced an analysis of culture into Marxist analysis. Two case studies are presented, one relating to neoliberalism in the developing world and the other to the Occupy movement. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the global economy is the prime determinant of the character of world politics.
Interfacehs Revista De Saude Meio Ambiente E Sustentabilidade, Feb 29, 2012
Anarchist Studies, 2018
In previous work, we have argued that there are considerable areas of overlap between anarchism a... more In previous work, we have argued that there are considerable areas of overlap between anarchism and complexity thinking, in particular because both explore the possibilities for the development of order without a specific source of authority. In more recent interventions we have developed a posthuman world view as a political project based on a foundation in complexity thinking. Hierarchical and exclusive forms of social organisation are usually understood by anarchists to be forms of domination. It is unsurprising then, that the history of anarchist thought and practical political engagement demonstrates a concern with an eclectic range of dominations. In this paper, we argue that in questioning our treatment of the environment, or ‘nature’ and in problematising some of our relations with non-human beings and things, some anarchism usefully informs the politics of posthumanism. We trace the past and contemporary linkages between anarchism and posthumanist thinking, drawing on liter...
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017
The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism, 2017