Poststructuralism & International Relations: Bringing the Political Back in

by Jenny Edkins

Offering an introduction to the major poststructuralist thinkers, this text shows how Foucault, Derrida, Lacan and Zizek expose the depoliticization found in conventional international relations theory. poststructuralists are concerned with the big questions of international politics: it is precisely their work that analyzes the political and explains the processes of depoliticization and technologization.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Naeem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Edkins displays two superb qualities in this book: (1) clear, elegant, succinct exposition of theories usually known for their abstrusness, and (2) chapters on Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Zizek, Laclau and Mouffe that not only summarize their contributions in short chapters (less than 20 pages) but which Jenny gets to speak to each other.

All this is done in the service of delivering Jenny's own argument about the difference between politics (the standardization of processes based on hidden assumptions) and the political (the unearthing and revelation of the hidden assumptions as a means to complicate politics).

There is even a closing section on the responsibilities of the scholar towards social change [I put this sentence in for you Steph.:]

The book is out of print and used copies are going for $285.38. Until that price comes down or a re-print comes out, we will have to share. I am making arrangements for this.