Decolonizing Politics: An Introduction

by Robbie Shilliam

Political science emerged as a response to the challenges of imperial administration and the demands of colonial rule. While not all political scientists were colonial cheerleaders, their thinking was nevertheless framed by colonial assumptions that influence the study of politics to this day.

This book offers students a lens through which to decolonize the main themes and issues of political science - from human nature, rights, and citizenship, to development and global justice. Not content with revealing the colonial legacies that still inform the discipline, the book also introduces students to a wide range of intellectual resources from the (post)colonial world that will help them think through the same themes and issues more expansively.

Decolonizing Politics is a much-needed critical guide for students of political science. It shifts the study of political science from the centers of power to its margins, where the majority of humanity lives. Ultimately, the book argues that those who occupy the margins are not powerless. Rather, marginal positions might afford a deeper understanding of politics than can be provided by mainstream approaches.​

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 18, 2021

Reviews

[Mandy]

Imperialism, man. The more you learn about the current "world order" the more you learn to hate the whole idea of the"free world". Shilliam's point, (and it's a good one) is that yeah, we live and work in "the free world" but who did we step on and de-value along the way to create this neoliberal, imperialist, global world order. What is progress if not a series of restrictions pressed against some to propel others forward. This is a good walk through of political theory across the last 300-400 years and it's horrible, racist origins and I think it was pretty well done, though I'm not sure why our professor wanted us to focus on the Artistotle chapters, it seemed like the more interesting bits were in the comparative politics and IR sections, or maybe those were just the parts that were more interesting to me.

[Aureo Toledo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leitura obrigatória para todos aqueles interessados em discussões envolvendo descolonização das ciências humanas, e da ciência política e das relações internacionais em particular.

[sigh ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for class, really just tells you to think about the margin and question everything you read. not about literal decolonization though, i kept thinking about that paper, 'decolonization is not a metaphor' because more and more people are using it as one : /

[Wuttipol✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shilliam argues political science was created for colonial purposes.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book on decolonizing thought, there was far too much unchecked, unnecessarily gendered language throughout.

[Sean Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5: Although the historical criticism was sometimes questionable (e.g., regarding Kant), it was informative and significant enough to make the book worth reading as a good starting point. Shilliam's attempts to generalize the narrative he pieces together, however, are often doubtful. The peripheral perspectives he offers as an alternative in each chapter fair much worse and suggest that the only alternatives to colonialist logic entail some form of postmodern relativism. I found 'Kant and Colonialism: Historical and Critical Perspectives' edited by Flikschuh & Ypi to offer a more informed alternative perspective on Kant's philosophy in relation to the subject.