2009Millennium Journal of International StudiesRequires access

Culture and International Relations: The Culture of International Relations

Richard Ned Lebow

Open publisher page 5 citations

Abstract

In a response to my critics I further elaborate some of the concepts central to A Cultural Theory of International Relations. I explain why it is a cultural theory, as distinct from a theory of culture; the different levels of reason conceptualised by the Greeks and their utility in moving our thinking beyond the exclusive focus on instrumental rationality of modern social science; and Aristotle's concept of anger and its implications for the behaviour of the weak and the powerful. I justify my case selection and its Western bias, but defend the universality of my theory and its non-hegemonic application to the study of other cultures.

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In a response to my critics I further elaborate some of the concepts central to A Cultural Theory of International Relations. I explain why it is a cultural theory, as distinct from a theory of culture; the different levels of reason conceptualised by the Greeks and their utility in moving our thinking beyond the exclusive focus on instrumental rationality of modern social science; and Aristotle's concept of anger and its implications for the behaviour of the weak and the powerful. I justify my case selection and its Western bias, but defend the universality of my theory and its non-hegemonic application to the study of other cultures.

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Available abstract

In a response to my critics I further elaborate some of the concepts central to A Cultural Theory of International Relations. I explain why it is a cultural theory, as distinct from a theory of culture; the different levels of reason conceptualised by the Greeks and their utility in moving our thinking beyond the exclusive focus on instrumental rationality of modern social science; and Aristotle's concept of anger and its implications for the behaviour of the weak and the powerful. I justify my case selection and its Western bias, but defend the universality of my theory and its non-hegemonic application to the study of other cultures.

Key concepts: Greeks, Universality (dynamical systems), Epistemology, International relations theory, Rationality, Hegemony, Sociology, International relations

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