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In 2016, writing in The Washington Post, Daniel Drezner asked: “where have all the big IR theories gone?” Since then, many other IR scholars have confirmed that IR theorising appears to have reached a dead end. Given that “there is nothing so practical as a good theory” (Kurt Lewin), the current impasse of IR theory is not just an academic matter – especially not in a world characterised by resurgent authoritarianism, pressing global environmental threats, and the spread of life-altering technologies. In this talk, Marco Verweij will argue that the development of IR theory has come to a standstill as many IR scholars have agreed with Friedrich Kratochwil and John Ruggie’s opinion that it is not possible to generalise about the social and linguistic construction of international politics. According to this view, recognising that international relations are constructed also implies that international relations can only be ‘understood’ and not ‘explained’. In his recent work, Alexander Wendt has tried to solve this conundrum but has done so by misrepresenting quantum science. Verweij will show that the ‘cultural theory’ pioneered by anthropologist Dame Mary Douglas offers a much more productive and policy-relevant way forward.
Marco Verweij is Professor of Political Science at Constructor University Bremen. Previously, he earned his keep at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods and the Singapore Management University and served as co-editor of Millennium: Journal of International Studies. In his research, he aims to understand how complex (or ‘wicked’) social and environmental problems can be resolved through the combined forces of (inter)governmental action, entrepreneurship, technological innovation, as well as civil society engagement. Moreover, he explores how political theory and neuroscience can strengthen one another. As an ‘undisciplined’ social scientist, he has published in leading journals in political science, public administration, sociology, geography, environmental studies, philosophy of science, engineering and neuroscience (and in not so leading journals in economics).
