Should global political theory get real? An introduction
| DOI | 10.1177/1755088216630997 |
| Date | 01 June 2016 |
| Published date | 01 June 2016 |
| Author | Jonathan Floyd |
Journal of International Political Theory
2016, Vol. 12(2) 93 –95
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1755088216630997
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Should global political
theory get real? An
introduction
Jonathan Floyd
University of Bristol, UK
Abstract
This special edition brings together (1) the recent methodological worries of the
moralism/realism and ideal/non-ideal theory debates with (2) the soaring ambition
of work in international or global political theory, as found in, say, theories of global
justice. Contributors are as follows: Chris Bertram, Jonathan Floyd, Aaron James, Terry
MacDonald, David Miller, Shmulik Nili, Mathias Risse and Matt Sleat.
Keywords
Global justice, ideal theory, moralism, non-ideal theory, realism
Consider the following three ‘growth areas’ in political theory: (1) ‘Global justice’, (2)
‘just war’ and (3) the non-identical twins of realism/moralism and ideal/non-ideal theory.
What instantly strikes one here? The fact that while the first two are incredibly ambitious
research programmes, in terms of the gap between theoretical prescription and political
reality, the third worries about that precise gap. And there is a lot of worrying about that
gap. Right now, and regardless of the precise question posed and terminology invoked, it
is hard to think of a more ‘live’ and varied conversation than the one that is currently
going on about how ideal or pessimistic, how moralising or realistic, or how abstract or
practical political theory ought to be (Estlund, 2009, 2011; Farrelly, 2007; Geuss, 2008;
Sen, 2011; Waldron, 2013; Williams, 2005; for overarching discussion, see Rossi and
Sleat, 2014; Valentini, 2012).1 Or at least, it is hard to think of a more excited conversa-
tion apart from those other two ‘growth areas’ just mentioned, which not only seem to
Corresponding author:
Jonathan Floyd, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, 11 Priory Road,
Bristol BS8 1TU, UK.
Email: Jonathan.Floyd@bristol.ac.uk
630997IPT0010.1177/1755088216630997Journal of International Political TheoryFloyd
research-article2016
Introduction
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