The false promise of global IR: exposing the paradox of dependent development

Date

2021-10-01

Author

Aydinli, Ersel
Erpul, Onur

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Concerned about the continued dominance of Western International Relations (IR) theories, the global IR community has proposed various measures to address disciplinary hierarchies through encouraging dialogue and pluralism. By investigating the pedagogical preferences of instructors from 45 countries, this paper questions the global IR initiative's emancipatory potential, arguing that disciplinary practices in IR resemble those of dependent development. The study develops a new typology of IR theoretical (IRT) scholarship and examines the readings assigned in 151 IRT syllabi worldwide for evidence of similarity, replication, and assimilation. The findings show that mainstream core IRTs dominate syllabi globally, regardless of region, language of instruction, or instructors' educational/linguistic backgrounds. This domination extends to periphery scholars not using their own local products. Even when they do seek alternative approaches, they prefer to import core alternatives, that is, critical traditions, rather than homegrown IRTs. Finally, the results show that even in syllabi taught in local languages the readings remain dominated by core IRT works. These findings expose a structural defect in the current cry for global IR, by revealing the system's dependent development paradox. The paper concludes with suggestions for creating a symmetric interdependent structure, in the aim of achieving a genuine globalization of IR.

Subject Keywords

Global IR, non-Western IR, core and periphery, homegrown IR theory, dependency, pedagogy, syllabus studies, INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS IR, AMERICAN SOCIAL-SCIENCE, WORLD, DISCIPLINE, ANARCHY, STATE, US, ECLECTICISM, DIVERSITY, DIALOGUE

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/100188

Journal

INTERNATIONAL THEORY

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1017/s175297192100018x

Collections

Department of International Relations, Article

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Citation Formats

E. Aydinli and O. Erpul, “The false promise of global IR: exposing the paradox of dependent development,” INTERNATIONAL THEORY, pp. 0–0, 2021, Accessed: 00, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/100188.