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H A
I R
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H A
I R
R A L
Edited by
Anthony F. Lang, Jr.
John Williams
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HANNAHARENDTANDINTERNATIONALRELATIONS
© Anthony F.Lang,Jr.and John Williams,2005.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2005 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St.Martin’s Press,LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
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and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 1–4039–6783–0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hannah Arendt and international relations :readings across the
lines / edited by Anthony F.Lang,Jr.,John Williams.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–6783–0
1.Arendt,Hannah.2.International relations.I.Lang,Anthony F.,
1968– II.Williams,John,1969–
JC251.A74H326 2005
327.1(cid:2)01—dc22 2004061823
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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First edition:July 2005
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Printed in the United States of America.
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Acknowledgments vii
1. Introduction 1
John Williams with Anthony F. Lang, Jr.
2. Hannah Arendt: A Biographical and Political Introduction 27
Patricia Owens
3. Hannah Arendt, Violence, and the Inescapable
Fact of Humanity 41
Patricia Owens
4. Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice 67
Andrew Schaap
5. Hannah Arendt and “The Right to Have Rights” 95
Bridget Cotter
6. Hannah Arendt’s Critical Realism: Power, Justice, and
Responsibility 113
Douglas Klusmeyer
7. Governance and Political Action: Hannah Arendt on
Global Political Protest 179
Anthony F. Lang, Jr.
8. Hannah Arendt and the International Space In-Between? 199
John Williams
9. Between International Politics and International Ethics 221
Anthony F. Lang, Jr. with John Williams
List of Contributors 233
Index 235
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A
T
his book was conceived, as with more academic projects than most
are prepared to admit, in a bar. A chance introduction over a drink in
the Chicago Hilton during the 2001 ISA Convention resulted in each
of the editors discovering that they were not, as they had tended to
think, the only person in International Relations (IR) with an interest
in Hannah Arendt. The first vote of thanks therefore goes to our
mutual friend, William Bain, who effected the introduction.
From these chance and unlikely beginnings, we embarked on a
project to put together a panel on Hannah Arendt for the 2002 ISA
Convention. Given our impression that we were the only people in IR
with such an interest, this looked like a tall order. We could provide
two papers, but looking for two more, a chair and a discussant would,
we thought, be pretty difficult. However, this insular impression was
soon revealed to be wholly false and we easily established two panels
on Arendt as there turned out to be many people who shared such an
interest. Thanks therefore must go to those who helped us find our
panelists, especially Andy Schaap and Patricia Owens for their sugges-
tions on participants, and to the discussants, Kim Hutchings and
Molly Cochran, who did that job with their characteristic good
humor, good grace, and intellectual insight. Both wished us well as we
declared our intention to develop the papers on those panels into a
book, and have expressed supportive interest in its progress ever since.
John Williams would like to thank the British Academy who sup-
ported financially the presentation at the 2002 ISA Convention of the
paper that has become the chapter on an international in-between.
Our next vote of thanks goes to Toby Wahl at Palgrave, who agreed
with a surprising readiness to take on a book on Arendt and interna-
tional relations. He has been very helpful throughout the somewhat
protracted process of putting it together, showing understanding and
encouragement through some difficult stages of developing the
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finalversion. We would also like to acknowledge that an earlier version
of the chapter by Andrew Schaap appeared as “Forgiveness, Recon-
ciliation, and Transitional Justice,” in Contemporary Political
Theory2, no. 1: 77–88 and is included here by permission of Palgrave
Macmillan.
Our families have also provided a great deal of support during this
process, too, and their contribution deserves recognition and our very
considerable thanks.
Finally, these acknowledgments began with the metaphor of con-
ception and they finish with the reality of death. The project of put-
ting this book together has covered a period marked by the death of
John Williams’s father in November 2001 and Tony Lang’s mother in
December 2003. They never met or knew one another but both
played similar roles in providing the encouragement, support, love,
and companionship that helped us, and continues to help us after they
have gone, to pursue intellectual and personal fulfilment. We would
thus like to dedicate this book to their memory.
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John Williams with Anthony F. Lang, Jr.
W H A?
International Relations (IR) theory has benefited greatly from a
growing interaction with political theory and philosophy over the last
20 years.1 Via postmodernism and the work of Foucault, Derrida,
Rorty, and Lyotard continental theory has become an accepted part of
theoretical discourse.2The Frankfurt School Critical Theory, exempli-
fied by the work of Habermas, has also carved out a significant niche.3
In International Political Economy (IPE), the work of Antonio
Gramsci has inspired perhaps the most dynamic analysis of economic
globalization, and certainly one with a powerful critical voice.4
Traditional stalwarts of political theory courses, such as Kant, Mill,
and Bentham, have regained prominence via the democratic peace
literature and issues such as cosmopolitan democracy and global
citizenship.5The revival of normative theory also owes a great deal to
political theory and philosophy with both cosmopolitan and commu-
nitarian camps often identifying themselves with Kant and Hegel,
respectively.6 Even realism, often seen as lacking in philosophical
sophistication, has looked to its theoretical roots. This is most obvious
in the use of neoclassical economic analogies and rational choice
theory in neorealism, but has also involved a consideration of thinkers
such as Carl Schmitt—adding the, admittedly problematic, weapon of
the twentieth century’s most trenchant critic of liberalism to the
armory of policy-oriented, problem-solving pragmatism.7
The process, hopefully, is becoming increasingly two-way with
political theorists waking up to the eroding credibility of a basic
