Communitarian International Relations: The Epistemic Foundations of International Relations (The New Internationalrelations)

356 Pages·2005·2.78 MB·English

by  Emanuel Adler

Communitarian International Relations
In Emanuel Adler’s distinctive constructivist approach to International Relations
theory, international practices evolve in tandem with collective knowledge of the
material and social worlds. This book—a selection of his journal publications, a
substantial new introduction and three previously unpublished articles—points
IR constructivism in a novel direction, characterized as ‘communitarian.’
Adler’s synthesis does not herald the end of the nation-state; nor does it
suggest that agency is unimportant in international life. Rather, it argues that
what mediates between individual and state agency and social structures are
communities of practice, which are the wellspring and repositories of collective
meanings and social practices. The concept of communities of practice casts new
light on epistemic and security communities, helping to explain why certain
ideas congeal into human practices and others do not, and which social
mechanisms can facilitate the emergence of normatively better communities.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars in International Relations
theory and particularly those interested in constructivism.
Emanuel Adler is the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Professor of Israeli
Studies at the University of Toronto and Professor of International Relations at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also the author of The Power of
Ideology and editor, with Michael Barnett, of Security Communities.
The New International Relations
Edited by Barry Buzan and Richard Little
London School of Economics and the University of
Bristol
The field of International Relations has changed dramatically in recent years.
This new series will cover the major issues that have emerged and reflect the
latest academic thinking in this particular dynamic area.
International Law, Rights and Politics
Developments in Eastern Europe and the CIS
Rein Mullerson
The Logic of Internationalism
Coercion and accommodation
Kjell Goldmann
Russia and the Idea of Europe
A study in identity and International Relations
Iver B.Neumann
The Future of International Relations
Masters in the making?
Edited by Iver B.Neumann and Ole Waever
Constructing the World Polity
Essays on international institutionalization
John Gerard Ruggie
Realism in International Relations and International Political Economy
The continuing story of a death foretold
Stefano Guzzini
International Relations, Political Theory and the Problem of Order
Beyond International Relations theory?
N.J.Rengger
War, Peace and World Orders in European History
Edited by Anja V.Hartmann and Beatrice Heuser
European Integration and National Identity
The challenge of the Nordic states
Edited by Lene Hansen and Ole Wæver
Shadow Globalization, Ethnic Conflicts and New Wars
A political economy of intra-state war
Dietrich Jung
iii
Contemporary Security Analysis and Copenhagen Peace Research
Edited by Stefano Guzzini and Dietrich Jung
Observing International Relations
Niklas Luhmann and world politics
Edited by Mathias Albert and Lena Hilkermeier
Does China Matter? A Reassessment
Essays in memory of Gerald Segal
Edited by Barry Buzan and Rosemary Foot
European Approaches to International Relations Theory
A house with many mansions
Jörg Friedrichs
The Post-Cold War International System
Strategies, institutions and reflexivity
Ewan Harrison
States of Political Discourse
Words, regimes, seditions
Costas M.Constantinou
The Politics of Regional Discourse
Meddling with the Mediterranean
Michelle Pace
The Power of International Theory
Reforging the link to foreign policy-making through scientific enquiry
Fred Chernoff
Africa and the North
Between globalization and marginalization
Edited by Ulf Engel and Gorm Rye Olsen
Communitarian International Relations
The epistemic foundations of International Relations
Emanuel Adler
Human Rights and World Trade
Hunger in international society
Ana Gonzalez-Pelaez
Communitarian
International Relations
The epistemic foundations of
International Relations
Emanuel Adler
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2005 Emanuel Adler
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested.
ISBN 0-203-02244-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-415-33590-6 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-33591-4 (pbk)
To the late Ernst (Ernie) Haas
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Series editor’s preface x
Preface and acknowledgements xiii
PART I Introduction 1
1 Communities of practice in International Relations 2
PART II Cognitive evolution 28
2 From being to becoming: cognitive evolution and a theory 29
of non-equilibrium in International Relations
3 Cognitive evolution: a dynamic approach for the study of 63
International Relations and their progress
4 Seizing the middle ground: constructivism in world politics 87
PART III Epistemic communities 113
5 Ideological ‘guerrillas’ and the quest for technological 114
autonomy: Brazil’s domestic computer industry
6 The emergence of cooperation: national epistemic 142
communities and the international evolution of the idea of
nuclear arms control
PART IV Security communities 177
7 Imagined (security) communities: cognitive regions in 178
International Relations
8 Condition(s) of peace 200
PART V Identity and peace in the Middle East 225
9 A Mediterranean canon and an Israeli prelude to long-term 226
peace
viii
10 Changing identities: the road to peace 234
Notes 249
Index 325
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 ‘Dissipative Structures’ 41
2.2 Positive feedback 43
2.3a Homeostasis 45
2.3b Homeorhesis 46
2.4 Resilience 47
2.5 System transformation 49
4.1 The ontological position of constructivism 98
5.1 Number and value of installed domestic and foreign computers, 1980–821 20
Tables
5.1 Number of installed computers in Brazil, 1970–82 1 19
5.2 Dollar share of sales for equipment manufactured with local technology 1 22
and of imports