Arendt’s Political Thought and the Possibility of Change in International Relations
Subject Areas : Research in Theoritical Politics
Homeira Moshirzadeh
1
,
Arya Moknat
2
1 - Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Tehran, Iran.
2 - .D. in Political Thought, Clermont University, California, & Visiting Professor of Political Science at Santiago College, California.
Keywords: According to mainstream IR theories and, in particular, realism, violence is and will remain to be an essential and inseparable part of international relations. All variations of realism view human nature and/or intentional system as inherently violent. Hannah Arendt’s theory of political power as a non-violent and collective human action challenges this fundamental assumption and offers a new perspective on what constitutes the essence of politics. Arendt’s idea of “human condition” rejects all forms of essentialism with regard to human beings and opens up a theoretical space for a new understanding of international relations where human beings become the primary political agents (despite the fact that she sees the existing international relations more from a realist point of view). Contrary to mainstream IR theories in general, and to realism in particular, for Arendt the individuals, rather than the states, are ultimately the main players in international relations. In this paper, we bind different aspects of Arendt’s political thought together to offer a new theoretical perspective for a possible change in world politics. ,
Abstract :
According to mainstream IR theories and, in particular, realism, violence is and will remain to be an essential and inseparable part of international relations. All variations of realism view human nature and/or intentional system as inherently violent. Hannah Arendt’s theory of political power as a non-violent and collective human action challenges this fundamental assumption and offers a new perspective on what constitutes the essence of politics. Arendt’s idea of “human condition” rejects all forms of essentialism with regard to human beings and opens up a theoretical space for a new understanding of international relations where human beings become the primary political agents (despite the fact that she sees the existing international relations more from a realist point of view). Contrary to mainstream IR theories in general, and to realism in particular, for Arendt the individuals, rather than the states, are ultimately the main players in international relations. In this paper, we bind different aspects of Arendt’s political thought together to offer a new theoretical perspective for a possible change in world politics.
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