Michael C Williams | University of Ottawa | Université d'Ottawa (original) (raw)

Papers by Michael C Williams

Research paper thumbnail of Writing the Right

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 27, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations

Journal of International Political Theory, 2021

Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transf... more Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transforming the landscape of international politics. Yet IR is remarkably ill-equipped to understand and engage these new challenges. Unlike political theory or domestic political analyses, conservatism has no distinctive place in the fields’ defining alternatives of realism, liberalism, Marxism, and constructivism. This paper seeks to provide a point of entry for such engagement by bringing together what may seem the most unlikely of partners: critical theory and the New Right. Important parts of today’s New Right represent self-conscious appropriations of Critical themes and thinkers—turning them to self-declared “reactionary” ends. Developing outside the confines of the academy, these forms of thought have woven insights from across Critical theory into new and mobilizing forms of conservative ideology, seeking to link that ideology to social forces that play increasingly active roles in g...

Research paper thumbnail of The radical Right, realism, and the politics of conservatism in postwar international thought

Review of International Studies, 2021

The rise of the radical Right over the last decade has created a situation that demands engagemen... more The rise of the radical Right over the last decade has created a situation that demands engagement with the intellectual origins, achievements, and changing worldviews of radical conservative forces. Yet, conservative thought seems to have no distinct place in the theoretical field that has structured debates within the discipline of IR since 1945. This article seeks to explain some of the reasons for this absence. In the first part, we argue that there was in fact a clear strand of radical conservative thought in the early years of the field's development and recover some of these forgotten positions. In the second part, we argue that the near disappearance of those ideas can be traced in part to a process of ‘conceptual innovation’ through which postwar realist thinkers sought to craft a ‘conservative liberalism’ that defined the emerging field's theoretical alternatives in ways that excluded radical right-wing positions. Recovering this history challenges some of IR's...

Research paper thumbnail of America first: paleoconservatism and the ideological struggle for the American right

Journal of Political Ideologies, 2019

This article provides an engagement with American paleoconservatism at the level of its intellect... more This article provides an engagement with American paleoconservatism at the level of its intellectual foundations. Although relatively unknown in the mainstream media, this anti-establishment strain of radical conservatism has provided intellectual ammunition to a wide range of agents and ideological forces challenging the prevailing liberal order nationally and internationally, positions that have at different times resonated with political movements including the Tea Party, the Alt-Right and Trumpism. The analysis begins with an exposition of the paleoconservative critique of contemporary liberal democracy and global liberal governance, in the context of the transformation of the American right and the ideological contest with neoconservatism since the early 1980s. We then move on to examine the neo-nationalist agenda championed by paleoconservative intellectuals in response to the perceived consequences of multiculturalism, neoliberal globalization and internationalist foreign policies, revealing an intellectual project far more substantive, complex and encompassing than its frequent reduction to 'populism' allows. For what is at stake in this politics is not only the democratic gains of the twentieth century, but also the political terrain upon which our dominant conceptions of the political are being re-amalgamated and represented into new struggles over the meaning and future of human coexistence under conditions of globalization.

Research paper thumbnail of Horizon Scan: Critical security studies for the next 50 years

Security Dialogue, 2019

What is changing? This: the contradictions and predations of patriarchal imperialist capitalism, ... more What is changing? This: the contradictions and predations of patriarchal imperialist capitalism, and of the deeply racist and gendered material and symbolic order it produces, have enabled an accelerating, unrelenting, unfettered extractive stance toward the planet, its ecosystems and natural resources, and the plant and animal species and human beings that inhabit it. That stance has not only resulted in increasingly outrageous inequalities and concentrations of wealth; it has gotten us to the brink of climate catastrophe, ecosystem collapse, and a vast, literally unimaginable intensification and expansion of human immiseration and suffering. So what is changing in security (if not in security studies, critical or otherwise) is everything-from the entire context of stable planetary ecosystems that gave rise to the way our world is politically, economically and socially structured, to our understandings of those structures, and to our models and theories of what constitutes security within them, be it state security or human security. We can no longer claim to be thinking about security unless we address the model that conceives the purpose of economic activity as ever-increasing 'efficiencies' of extraction, exploitation and consumption of nature's resources, and of human labour, both paid and unpaid, for the purpose of profit-rather than, for example, conceiving the purpose of economic activity as meeting human needs for a decent and dignified life, and ensuring the sustainability of the resources and ecosystems on which life depends. Consider just these few snapshots of what that model has produced: How is it possible to talk about 'security' while ignoring them/without centring them? 862912S DI0010.1177/0967010619862912Security DialogueSalter (ed.) et al. Horizon scan-commentaries article-Commentary2019 Salter (ed.) et al. Horizon scan-commentaries References NASA Science (n.d.

Research paper thumbnail of Interlocuting classical realism and critical theory: Negotiating ‘divides’ in international relations theory

Journal of International Political Theory, 2016

The history of the discipline of International Relations is usually narrated as a succession of t... more The history of the discipline of International Relations is usually narrated as a succession of theories that would pursue different ontologies and epistemologies and focus on different problems. This narrative provides some structure to a multifaceted field and its diverse discussions. However, it is also highly problematic as it ignores common problems, intersections and mutual inspirations and overemphasizes divides over eventual commonalities. Rather than such overemphasis, we suggest instead negotiating between ‘IR theories’ and elaborating their shared foci and philosophies of science in order to provide new perspectives on and approaches to international politics. We here negotiate between the two theoretical movements of classical realism and critical theories that are typically treated as opposites, yet which nonetheless are characterized by shared concerns about political and social crises, modernity and humanity.

Research paper thumbnail of Europe, Knowledge, Politics — Engaging with the Limits: The c.a.s.e. collective Responds

Research paper thumbnail of Hierarchy in International Relations. By David A. Lake. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009. 248p. $39.95

Perspectives on Politics, 2010

unknown situations" (p. 178). He constructs a 2 × 2 matrix to differentiate perspectives on civil... more unknown situations" (p. 178). He constructs a 2 × 2 matrix to differentiate perspectives on civilization with respect to whether they focus on an attribute or process ontology, and whether their determinations rest on scholarly or participant specifications. He then subdivides each quadrant into an additional 2 × 2 matrix to capture further nuance. Nevertheless, Jackson fails to situate all of the works into the categories of his matrices, and so the utility of his scheme in integrating the works in the volume is not evident. The upshot of his conclusion is his call to reject essentialism and to "[trace] the diffusion of characteristic

Research paper thumbnail of Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik

Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 1989

Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik Michael C.Williams The strongest is never strong enough to be a... more Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik Michael C.Williams The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seemingly meant ironically, is really laid ...

Research paper thumbnail of Security sector reform: bringing the private in

Conflict, Security & Development, 2006

, where she teaches African and Postcolonial Politics. She is the author of Disciplining Democrac... more , where she teaches African and Postcolonial Politics. She is the author of Disciplining Democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa (Zed Books, 2000), and recent articles in Alternatives, Third World Quarterly and African Affairs. She is currently working on an ESRC-funded project entitled 'The Globalisation of Private Security'.

Research paper thumbnail of Radical conservatism and global order: international theory and the new right

International Theory, 2018

The rise of the radical ‘New Right’ (NR) across much of the global political landscape is one of ... more The rise of the radical ‘New Right’ (NR) across much of the global political landscape is one of the most striking political developments of recent years. This article seeks to foster international theory’s critical engagement with the NR by providing an overview of its thinking about world politics and the challenges it presents. We argue that in many ways international theory is in fact uniquely positioned to provide such an engagement, and that it is essential that international theory comes to terms more fully with its political vision and theoretical claims if it is to engage effectively with this increasingly potent and often deeply troubling intellectual and political movement.

Research paper thumbnail of The view from MARS: US paleoconservatism and ideological challenges to the liberal world order

International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 2019

Challenges to the liberal international order have tended to focus on the politics of populism mo... more Challenges to the liberal international order have tended to focus on the politics of populism most often traced to reactions against economic dislocation and mass migration. Parts of this portrait are undoubtedly true, but it also risks being deeply misleading. To fully understand the nature and depth of contemporary far-right movements, we need to examine more closely the distinctive ideological movements that inform and animate them. This article explores one specific articulation of these movements: US paleoconservatism. Although relatively unknown in the mainstream media, this anti-establishment strain of radical conservatism has provided intellectual ammunition to a wide range of agents and ideological forces challenging the prevailing liberal order nationally and internationally, including important parts of the anti-liberal politics of foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

Research paper thumbnail of Securing the City: Private Security Companies and Non-State Authority in Global Governance

International Relations, 2007

The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security se... more The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security sector. These developments mark the emergence of public—private, global—local security networks that play increasingly important roles in global governance. Rather than representing a simple retreat of the state, security privatisation is a part of broad processes in which the role of the state — and the nature and locus of authority — is being transformed and rearticulated. Often presented as apolitical, as the mere effect of market forces and moves towards greater efficiency in service delivery, the authority conferred on private actors can alter the political landscape and in the case of private security has clear implications for who is secured and how. The operation and impact of public/private, global/local security networks is explored in the context of security provision in Cape Town, South Africa.

Research paper thumbnail of The Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War: Neoconservatives Versus Realists

Research paper thumbnail of Broadening the agenda of security studies: Politics and methods

Mershon International Studies Review, Oct 1, 1996

The field of security studies has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Attemp... more The field of security studies has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Attempts to broaden and deepen the scope of the field beyond its traditional focus on states and military conflict have raised fundamental theoretical and practical issues. Yet, adherents to the prevailing neorealist approach to security studies have often reacted to these challenges in ways that preclude a recognition of the issues raised by alternative understandings. An examination of the debates over" rethinking security" in particular ...

Research paper thumbnail of In the beginning: The International Relations enlightenment and the ends of International Relations theory

European Journal of International Relations, 2013

The question of endings is simultaneously a question of beginnings: wondering if International Re... more The question of endings is simultaneously a question of beginnings: wondering if International Relations is at an end inevitably raises the puzzle of when and how ‘it’ began. This article argues that International Relations’ origins bear striking resemblance to a wider movement in post-war American political studies that Ira Katznelson calls the ‘political studies enlightenment.’ This story of the field’s beginnings and ends has become so misunderstood as to have almost disappeared from histories of the field and accounts of its theoretical orientations and alternatives. This historical forgetting represents one of the most debilitating errors of International Relations theory today, and overcoming it has significant implications for how we think about the past and future development of the field. In particular, it throws open not only our understanding of the place of realism in International Relations, but also our vision of liberalism. For the realism of the International Relatio...

Research paper thumbnail of Words, images, enemies: securitization and international politics

International Studies Quarterly, 2003

The theory of ''securitization'' developed by the Copenhagen School provides one of the most inno... more The theory of ''securitization'' developed by the Copenhagen School provides one of the most innovative, productive, and yet controversial avenues of research in contemporary security studies. This article provides an assessment of the foundations of this approach and its limitations, as well as its significance for broader areas of International Relations theory. Locating securitization theory within the context of both classical Realism influenced by Carl Schmitt, and current work on constructivist ethics, it argues that while the Copenhagen School is largely immune from the most common criticisms leveled against it, the increasing impact of televisual communication in security relations provides a fundamental challenge for understanding the processes and institutions involved in securitization, and for the political ethics advocated by the Copenhagen School.

Research paper thumbnail of Security Beyond the State: Global Security Assemblages in International Politics 1

International Political Sociology

To date, most discussion of security privatization in international politics has been focused on ... more To date, most discussion of security privatization in international politics has been focused on the role of private military companies and mercenaries. This article seeks to shift the focus away from the battlefields and toward the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Confronting the International Political Sociology of the New Right

International Political Sociology

The rise of radical right-wing leaders, parties, movements, and ideas have transformed not only d... more The rise of radical right-wing leaders, parties, movements, and ideas have transformed not only domestic political landscapes but also the direction and dynamics of international relations. Yet for all their emphasis on nationalist identity, on “America First” and “Taking Back Control,” there is an unmistakable international dimension to contemporary nationalist, populist movements. Yet these movements are also often transnationally linked. We argue that a constitutive part of this globality is the New Right's (NR) own distinctive international political sociology (IPS). Key thinkers of the contemporary NR have, over several decades, theorized and strategically mobilized globalized economic dislocation and cultural resentment, developing a coherent sociological critique of globalization. Drawing on the oft-neglected tradition of elite managerialism, NR ideologues have borrowed freely from Lenin and Schmitt on the power of enmity, as well as from Gramsci and the Frankfurt School ...

Research paper thumbnail of From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations

Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transf... more Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transforming the landscape of international politics. Yet IR is remarkably ill-equipped to understand and engage these new challenges. Unlike political theory or domestic political analyses, conservatism has no distinctive place in the fields' defining alternatives of realism, liberalism, Marxism, and constructivism. This paper seeks to provide a point of entry for such engagement by bringing together what may seem the most unlikely of partners: critical theory and the New Right. Important parts of today's New Right represent self-conscious appropriations of Critical themes and thinkers-turning them to self-declared "reactionary" ends. Developing outside the confines of the academy, these forms of thought have woven insights from across Critical theory into new and mobilizing forms of conservative ideology, seeking to link that ideology to social forces that play increasingly active roles in global politics. Our intention here is not to somehow blame Critical perspectives for the ideas of the New Right, either directly or by association. Rather, we seek to show how an engagement with Critical theory helps us understand the New Right, while also demonstrating some of the direct challenges the New Right poses for critical perspectives.

Research paper thumbnail of Writing the Right

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 27, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations

Journal of International Political Theory, 2021

Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transf... more Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transforming the landscape of international politics. Yet IR is remarkably ill-equipped to understand and engage these new challenges. Unlike political theory or domestic political analyses, conservatism has no distinctive place in the fields’ defining alternatives of realism, liberalism, Marxism, and constructivism. This paper seeks to provide a point of entry for such engagement by bringing together what may seem the most unlikely of partners: critical theory and the New Right. Important parts of today’s New Right represent self-conscious appropriations of Critical themes and thinkers—turning them to self-declared “reactionary” ends. Developing outside the confines of the academy, these forms of thought have woven insights from across Critical theory into new and mobilizing forms of conservative ideology, seeking to link that ideology to social forces that play increasingly active roles in g...

Research paper thumbnail of The radical Right, realism, and the politics of conservatism in postwar international thought

Review of International Studies, 2021

The rise of the radical Right over the last decade has created a situation that demands engagemen... more The rise of the radical Right over the last decade has created a situation that demands engagement with the intellectual origins, achievements, and changing worldviews of radical conservative forces. Yet, conservative thought seems to have no distinct place in the theoretical field that has structured debates within the discipline of IR since 1945. This article seeks to explain some of the reasons for this absence. In the first part, we argue that there was in fact a clear strand of radical conservative thought in the early years of the field's development and recover some of these forgotten positions. In the second part, we argue that the near disappearance of those ideas can be traced in part to a process of ‘conceptual innovation’ through which postwar realist thinkers sought to craft a ‘conservative liberalism’ that defined the emerging field's theoretical alternatives in ways that excluded radical right-wing positions. Recovering this history challenges some of IR's...

Research paper thumbnail of America first: paleoconservatism and the ideological struggle for the American right

Journal of Political Ideologies, 2019

This article provides an engagement with American paleoconservatism at the level of its intellect... more This article provides an engagement with American paleoconservatism at the level of its intellectual foundations. Although relatively unknown in the mainstream media, this anti-establishment strain of radical conservatism has provided intellectual ammunition to a wide range of agents and ideological forces challenging the prevailing liberal order nationally and internationally, positions that have at different times resonated with political movements including the Tea Party, the Alt-Right and Trumpism. The analysis begins with an exposition of the paleoconservative critique of contemporary liberal democracy and global liberal governance, in the context of the transformation of the American right and the ideological contest with neoconservatism since the early 1980s. We then move on to examine the neo-nationalist agenda championed by paleoconservative intellectuals in response to the perceived consequences of multiculturalism, neoliberal globalization and internationalist foreign policies, revealing an intellectual project far more substantive, complex and encompassing than its frequent reduction to 'populism' allows. For what is at stake in this politics is not only the democratic gains of the twentieth century, but also the political terrain upon which our dominant conceptions of the political are being re-amalgamated and represented into new struggles over the meaning and future of human coexistence under conditions of globalization.

Research paper thumbnail of Horizon Scan: Critical security studies for the next 50 years

Security Dialogue, 2019

What is changing? This: the contradictions and predations of patriarchal imperialist capitalism, ... more What is changing? This: the contradictions and predations of patriarchal imperialist capitalism, and of the deeply racist and gendered material and symbolic order it produces, have enabled an accelerating, unrelenting, unfettered extractive stance toward the planet, its ecosystems and natural resources, and the plant and animal species and human beings that inhabit it. That stance has not only resulted in increasingly outrageous inequalities and concentrations of wealth; it has gotten us to the brink of climate catastrophe, ecosystem collapse, and a vast, literally unimaginable intensification and expansion of human immiseration and suffering. So what is changing in security (if not in security studies, critical or otherwise) is everything-from the entire context of stable planetary ecosystems that gave rise to the way our world is politically, economically and socially structured, to our understandings of those structures, and to our models and theories of what constitutes security within them, be it state security or human security. We can no longer claim to be thinking about security unless we address the model that conceives the purpose of economic activity as ever-increasing 'efficiencies' of extraction, exploitation and consumption of nature's resources, and of human labour, both paid and unpaid, for the purpose of profit-rather than, for example, conceiving the purpose of economic activity as meeting human needs for a decent and dignified life, and ensuring the sustainability of the resources and ecosystems on which life depends. Consider just these few snapshots of what that model has produced: How is it possible to talk about 'security' while ignoring them/without centring them? 862912S DI0010.1177/0967010619862912Security DialogueSalter (ed.) et al. Horizon scan-commentaries article-Commentary2019 Salter (ed.) et al. Horizon scan-commentaries References NASA Science (n.d.

Research paper thumbnail of Interlocuting classical realism and critical theory: Negotiating ‘divides’ in international relations theory

Journal of International Political Theory, 2016

The history of the discipline of International Relations is usually narrated as a succession of t... more The history of the discipline of International Relations is usually narrated as a succession of theories that would pursue different ontologies and epistemologies and focus on different problems. This narrative provides some structure to a multifaceted field and its diverse discussions. However, it is also highly problematic as it ignores common problems, intersections and mutual inspirations and overemphasizes divides over eventual commonalities. Rather than such overemphasis, we suggest instead negotiating between ‘IR theories’ and elaborating their shared foci and philosophies of science in order to provide new perspectives on and approaches to international politics. We here negotiate between the two theoretical movements of classical realism and critical theories that are typically treated as opposites, yet which nonetheless are characterized by shared concerns about political and social crises, modernity and humanity.

Research paper thumbnail of Europe, Knowledge, Politics — Engaging with the Limits: The c.a.s.e. collective Responds

Research paper thumbnail of Hierarchy in International Relations. By David A. Lake. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009. 248p. $39.95

Perspectives on Politics, 2010

unknown situations" (p. 178). He constructs a 2 × 2 matrix to differentiate perspectives on civil... more unknown situations" (p. 178). He constructs a 2 × 2 matrix to differentiate perspectives on civilization with respect to whether they focus on an attribute or process ontology, and whether their determinations rest on scholarly or participant specifications. He then subdivides each quadrant into an additional 2 × 2 matrix to capture further nuance. Nevertheless, Jackson fails to situate all of the works into the categories of his matrices, and so the utility of his scheme in integrating the works in the volume is not evident. The upshot of his conclusion is his call to reject essentialism and to "[trace] the diffusion of characteristic

Research paper thumbnail of Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik

Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 1989

Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik Michael C.Williams The strongest is never strong enough to be a... more Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik Michael C.Williams The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seemingly meant ironically, is really laid ...

Research paper thumbnail of Security sector reform: bringing the private in

Conflict, Security & Development, 2006

, where she teaches African and Postcolonial Politics. She is the author of Disciplining Democrac... more , where she teaches African and Postcolonial Politics. She is the author of Disciplining Democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa (Zed Books, 2000), and recent articles in Alternatives, Third World Quarterly and African Affairs. She is currently working on an ESRC-funded project entitled 'The Globalisation of Private Security'.

Research paper thumbnail of Radical conservatism and global order: international theory and the new right

International Theory, 2018

The rise of the radical ‘New Right’ (NR) across much of the global political landscape is one of ... more The rise of the radical ‘New Right’ (NR) across much of the global political landscape is one of the most striking political developments of recent years. This article seeks to foster international theory’s critical engagement with the NR by providing an overview of its thinking about world politics and the challenges it presents. We argue that in many ways international theory is in fact uniquely positioned to provide such an engagement, and that it is essential that international theory comes to terms more fully with its political vision and theoretical claims if it is to engage effectively with this increasingly potent and often deeply troubling intellectual and political movement.

Research paper thumbnail of The view from MARS: US paleoconservatism and ideological challenges to the liberal world order

International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 2019

Challenges to the liberal international order have tended to focus on the politics of populism mo... more Challenges to the liberal international order have tended to focus on the politics of populism most often traced to reactions against economic dislocation and mass migration. Parts of this portrait are undoubtedly true, but it also risks being deeply misleading. To fully understand the nature and depth of contemporary far-right movements, we need to examine more closely the distinctive ideological movements that inform and animate them. This article explores one specific articulation of these movements: US paleoconservatism. Although relatively unknown in the mainstream media, this anti-establishment strain of radical conservatism has provided intellectual ammunition to a wide range of agents and ideological forces challenging the prevailing liberal order nationally and internationally, including important parts of the anti-liberal politics of foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

Research paper thumbnail of Securing the City: Private Security Companies and Non-State Authority in Global Governance

International Relations, 2007

The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security se... more The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security sector. These developments mark the emergence of public—private, global—local security networks that play increasingly important roles in global governance. Rather than representing a simple retreat of the state, security privatisation is a part of broad processes in which the role of the state — and the nature and locus of authority — is being transformed and rearticulated. Often presented as apolitical, as the mere effect of market forces and moves towards greater efficiency in service delivery, the authority conferred on private actors can alter the political landscape and in the case of private security has clear implications for who is secured and how. The operation and impact of public/private, global/local security networks is explored in the context of security provision in Cape Town, South Africa.

Research paper thumbnail of The Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War: Neoconservatives Versus Realists

Research paper thumbnail of Broadening the agenda of security studies: Politics and methods

Mershon International Studies Review, Oct 1, 1996

The field of security studies has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Attemp... more The field of security studies has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Attempts to broaden and deepen the scope of the field beyond its traditional focus on states and military conflict have raised fundamental theoretical and practical issues. Yet, adherents to the prevailing neorealist approach to security studies have often reacted to these challenges in ways that preclude a recognition of the issues raised by alternative understandings. An examination of the debates over" rethinking security" in particular ...

Research paper thumbnail of In the beginning: The International Relations enlightenment and the ends of International Relations theory

European Journal of International Relations, 2013

The question of endings is simultaneously a question of beginnings: wondering if International Re... more The question of endings is simultaneously a question of beginnings: wondering if International Relations is at an end inevitably raises the puzzle of when and how ‘it’ began. This article argues that International Relations’ origins bear striking resemblance to a wider movement in post-war American political studies that Ira Katznelson calls the ‘political studies enlightenment.’ This story of the field’s beginnings and ends has become so misunderstood as to have almost disappeared from histories of the field and accounts of its theoretical orientations and alternatives. This historical forgetting represents one of the most debilitating errors of International Relations theory today, and overcoming it has significant implications for how we think about the past and future development of the field. In particular, it throws open not only our understanding of the place of realism in International Relations, but also our vision of liberalism. For the realism of the International Relatio...

Research paper thumbnail of Words, images, enemies: securitization and international politics

International Studies Quarterly, 2003

The theory of ''securitization'' developed by the Copenhagen School provides one of the most inno... more The theory of ''securitization'' developed by the Copenhagen School provides one of the most innovative, productive, and yet controversial avenues of research in contemporary security studies. This article provides an assessment of the foundations of this approach and its limitations, as well as its significance for broader areas of International Relations theory. Locating securitization theory within the context of both classical Realism influenced by Carl Schmitt, and current work on constructivist ethics, it argues that while the Copenhagen School is largely immune from the most common criticisms leveled against it, the increasing impact of televisual communication in security relations provides a fundamental challenge for understanding the processes and institutions involved in securitization, and for the political ethics advocated by the Copenhagen School.

Research paper thumbnail of Security Beyond the State: Global Security Assemblages in International Politics 1

International Political Sociology

To date, most discussion of security privatization in international politics has been focused on ... more To date, most discussion of security privatization in international politics has been focused on the role of private military companies and mercenaries. This article seeks to shift the focus away from the battlefields and toward the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Confronting the International Political Sociology of the New Right

International Political Sociology

The rise of radical right-wing leaders, parties, movements, and ideas have transformed not only d... more The rise of radical right-wing leaders, parties, movements, and ideas have transformed not only domestic political landscapes but also the direction and dynamics of international relations. Yet for all their emphasis on nationalist identity, on “America First” and “Taking Back Control,” there is an unmistakable international dimension to contemporary nationalist, populist movements. Yet these movements are also often transnationally linked. We argue that a constitutive part of this globality is the New Right's (NR) own distinctive international political sociology (IPS). Key thinkers of the contemporary NR have, over several decades, theorized and strategically mobilized globalized economic dislocation and cultural resentment, developing a coherent sociological critique of globalization. Drawing on the oft-neglected tradition of elite managerialism, NR ideologues have borrowed freely from Lenin and Schmitt on the power of enmity, as well as from Gramsci and the Frankfurt School ...

Research paper thumbnail of From critique to reaction: The new right, critical theory and international relations

Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transf... more Across the globe, radical conservative political forces and ideas are influencing and even transforming the landscape of international politics. Yet IR is remarkably ill-equipped to understand and engage these new challenges. Unlike political theory or domestic political analyses, conservatism has no distinctive place in the fields' defining alternatives of realism, liberalism, Marxism, and constructivism. This paper seeks to provide a point of entry for such engagement by bringing together what may seem the most unlikely of partners: critical theory and the New Right. Important parts of today's New Right represent self-conscious appropriations of Critical themes and thinkers-turning them to self-declared "reactionary" ends. Developing outside the confines of the academy, these forms of thought have woven insights from across Critical theory into new and mobilizing forms of conservative ideology, seeking to link that ideology to social forces that play increasingly active roles in global politics. Our intention here is not to somehow blame Critical perspectives for the ideas of the New Right, either directly or by association. Rather, we seek to show how an engagement with Critical theory helps us understand the New Right, while also demonstrating some of the direct challenges the New Right poses for critical perspectives.