Interdisciplinarity on the Move: Reading Kratochwil as Counter-Disciplinarity Proper
| Author | T. E. Aalberts |
| Published date | 01 January 2016 |
| Date | 01 January 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0305829815620047 |
| Subject Matter | Forum: The Status of Law in World Society |
Millennium: Journal of
International Studies
2016, Vol. 44(2) 242 –249
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0305829815620047
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Interdisciplinarity on the
Move: Reading Kratochwil as
Counter-Disciplinarity Proper
T. E. Aalberts
Centre for the Politics of Transnational Law, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract
This contribution to the forum discusses The Status of Law in World Society from the perspective of
interdisciplinary research in International Law and International Relations. While problematising
the mediation on interdisciplinarity itself, I suggest that the remainder of the book is an example
of reflexive interdisciplinarity, which uses cross-disciplinary encounters to learn about disciplinary
blindspots, hidden assumptions or silences, and to destabilise its certain knowledges and
common senses. This is interdisciplinarity as counter-disciplinarity proper. Kratochwil shows
how interdisciplinary research can be a non-imperialist, enriching and stimulating conversation,
precisely because it refrains from dictating this in the form of a set research agenda with a
delineated roadmap. The Status of Law instead highlights the scholarly merits of posing questions,
being puzzled and having contestations as more important and productive features for our
academic endeavour and interdisciplinarity itself.
Keywords
interdisciplinarity, counter-disciplinarity, reflexivity
As yet another tour de force by Friedrich Kratochwil, The Status of Law in World Society
has an interesting idea or provoking thought on just about every other page. Set up as a
series of meditations, Kratochwil guides us through a wealth of literature across ages and
disciplines, and as such impresses his readers once again with his articulacy and prolifi-
cacy as an interdisciplinary scholar. Interdisciplinarity runs as a red thread through the
whole book, but is also explicitly discussed as a theme in the first meditation. In this
short review, I would like to reflect on the book from this perspective, discuss its critique
Corresponding author:
Tanja Aalberts, Centre for the Politics of Transnational Law, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105,
Amsterdam, 1081 HV, The Netherlands.
Email: t.e.aalberts@vu.nl
620047MIL0010.1177/0305829815620047MillenniumAalberts
research-article2016
Forum: The Status of Law in World Society
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