Re-Writing International Relations
Global Dialogues: Developing Non-Eurocentric IR and IPE
Series Editors: John M. Hobson, Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield;
L. H. M. Ling, Professor, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, The New School
This series adopts a dialogical perspective on global politics, which focuses on the interactions and reciprocities between West and non-West, across Global North and Global South. Not only do these shape and re-shape each other but they have also shaped, made and remade our international system/global economy for the last 500 years. Acknowledging that these reciprocities may be asymmetrical due to disparities in power and resources, this series also seeks to register how Eastern agency, in tandem with counterparts in the West, has made world politics and the world political economy into what it is. While this series certainly welcomes purely theoretically based books, its primary focus centres on empirical rethinking about the development of the world political system and the global economy along non-Eurocentric lines.
Titles in the Series
Islam and International Relations: Exploring Community and the Limits of Universalism by Faiz Sheikh
Historical Sociology and World History: Uneven and Combined Development over the Longue Dure , edited by Alexander Anievas and Kamran Matin
Re-Writing International Relations: History and Theory Beyond Eurocentrism in Turkey , by Zeynep Glah apan
Re-Writing International Relations
History and Theory Beyond Eurocentrism in Turkey
Zeynep Glah apan
London New York
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Copyright 2016 Zeynep Glah apan
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: HB 978-1-7834-8783-7
PB 978-1-7834-8784-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available
ISBN 978-1-78348-783-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-78348-784-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-78348-785-1 (electronic)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
The writing of this book was a journey and the people I met along the way made it an educational and dare I say an enjoyable one. I want to thank all of them, some of whom I might have forgotten to mention here, for making this journey possible and helping me along the way. Any failings of course remain mine. Firstly, I want to thank Oliver Kessler without whom I would never have been able to write this book. His guidance and kindness have become the standards to which I aspire to. An advice from him still resonates with me which was write as if you are explaining it to an eight-year-old. Leila Khalilova (my niece) had to endure a couple of hours of me explaining my arguments to her because of this advice. After my explanation she looked at me skeptically and said It is not really exciting, there are no unicorns. Alas, I was never able to figure out how to integrate unicorns into the story of international relations but I do hope both Oliver and Leila enjoy the book.
I am not certain any words will be enough to express my gratitude to Aye Zarakol who has been an intellectual inspiration, an incredible friend and steadfastly continues to endure my endless ramblings. The writing of the book was made possible by a TUBITAK 2218 post-doctoral grant that allowed me to spend a year at Bilkent University. I want to thank Pnar Bilgin for encouraging me to apply for the post-doctoral grant. Her work constituted one of the starting points for the questions that continue to guide my research and her assistance has been invaluable throughout the process. Lily Ling and John Hobson have been incredibly helpful throughout the process and I want to thank them for their guidance and feedback. I want to also thank Anna Reeve and Dhara Patel for their help throughout the process of publishing the book. The archival material was collected at T. C. Babakanlk Devlet Arivleri and Atatrk IBB Kitapli.
I was lucky enough to teach courses that spoke directly to my area of research both at Marmara University and University of Erfurt. I would like to thank the students who attended the courses and it was through our dialogues, disagreements and discussions that I was able to develop my thinking. Academia can be a lonely existence at times and even alienating. It was thanks to friends I made along the way that it became an environment of inspiration and constant dialogue. Thanks to Senem Aydn-Dzgit, Bur Begl, Munevver Cebeci, Filipe Dos Reis, Maj Grasten, Janis Grzybowski, zge Onursal, Timo Walter and Benjamin Wilhelm. Despite all my efforts, I could not figure out a way to include Niklas Luhmann in the book. The unicorn might have been a more realistic expectation.
A special mention go to my nieces and nephew Sevda, Leila and Iska who made me forget academia when I needed to and let me spend a few hours in their wondrous worlds. Glm and Glben thank you for always being there, there is nothing more comforting in knowing that when all else fails you will always have your sisters. Last but not least I want to thank my mother and father my mother for her unwavering support and her belief in me even though at times it seemed like and might still seem like I was going after a dream; my father for being the dreamer whom I take after. It is to them that this book is dedicated.
The aim of this book is to contribute to discussions about the Eurocentrism of International Relations. The book focuses on the manifestations of Eurocentrism and criticism of Eurocentrism in and through disciplines and geopolitical contexts. Re-writing International Relations intervenes in two main debates about the field of IR. The first debate is about the attempts to re-write the history of International Relations, and the second debate is about the Eurocentrism of the field of International Relations. These two debates are interrelated because the way the history of the discipline of International Relations is written constructs the boundaries through which its possible futures can be imagined.
The main focus of the book is the Eurocentrism of the field of International Relations and the question of how to understand it through connecting and thinking in and through disciplinary and geopolitical knowledges. Eurocentrism how to define and tackle it has been a concern for the humanities and the social sciences for some time. Eurocentrism and how it manifests, is enacted and circulates is not a uniform story. The aim of the book is to trace how Eurocentrism and its criticisms is expressed in and through disciplinary and geopolitical knowledges. The different manifestations (avatars) of Eurocentrism can be grouped under three headings: culturalist, historical and epistemic. The culturalist avatar refers to the ways in which the East is framed. The historical avatar is about how Europe is taken to be the central subject of history and as the central point from which the main developments of history such as capitalism originated. The epistemic avatar establishes the relationship between the knower and the known. These avatars not only manifest themselves in different and interrelated ways but also evolve and travel and are reproduced and renegotiated.
