International relations and intellectual history
| Author | Terry Nardin,William Bain |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117817723069 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117817723069
International Relations
2017, Vol. 31(3) 213 –226
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0047117817723069
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International relations and
intellectual history
William Bain
National University of Singapore; Yale-NUS College
Terry Nardin
National University of Singapore; Yale-NUS College
Abstract
The history of international thought has traditionally focused on a limited number of canonical
texts. Such an approach now seems both naive and parochial. International Relations scholars
often read their own ideas into these texts instead of getting ideas from them – ideas that if
properly understood have the potential to undermine theirs. By ignoring non-canonical texts, we
overlook resources that are not only necessary to establish the historical contexts of canonical
writings but that can also help theorists of International Relations to understand their subject
better. Judgements of what is and is not canonical are in any case themselves context-bound
and contestable. Intellectual history can help us understand how the International Relations
canon was constructed and for what purposes. It can also counter the abstractions of theory
by reminding us not only that theories are abstractions from the activities of people living in
particular times and places but also that our own theories are embedded in historicity. In these
and other ways, paying attention to intellectual history expands the repertoire of ideas on which
International Relations theorists can draw and against which they can measure their conclusions.
The articles in this issue illustrate these points in relation to a wide range of texts and contexts.
They suggest that whether one approaches international relations from the angle of description,
explanation, policy or ethics, knowing how past thinkers have understood the subject can lead to
better informed and more robust scholarship.
Keywords
contextualism, domination, empire, hierarchy, history of international thought, intellectual
history, international law, international political theory, International Relations theory, Kant,
Quentin Skinner, race, Vattel
Corresponding author:
William Bain, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, AS1, #04-43, 11 Arts Link,
117570 Singapore.
Email: wbain@nus.edu.sg
723069IRE0010.1177/0047117817723069International RelationsBain and Nardin
research-article2017
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