This book rethinks the key concepts of International Relations by drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu.

The last few years have seen a genuine wave of publications promoting sociology in international relations. Scholars have suggested that Bourdieu's vocabulary can be applied to study security, diplomacy, migration and global environmental politics. Yet we still lack a systematic and accessible analysis of what Bourdieu-inspired IR might look like. This book provides the answer. It offers an introduction to Bourdieu's thinking to a wider IR audience, challenges key assumptions, which currently structure IR scholarship - and provides an original, theoretical restatement of some of the core concepts in the field. The book brings together a select group of leading IR scholars who draw on both theoretical and empirical insights from Bourdieu. Each chapter covers one central concept in IR: Methodology, Knowledge, Power, Strategy, Security, Culture, Gender, Norms, Sovereignty and Integration. The chapters demonstrate how these concepts can be reinterpreted and used in new ways when exposed to Bourdieusian logic.

Challenging key pillars of IR scholarship, Bourdieu in International Relations will be of interest to critical theorists, and scholars of IR theory.

About the Author
Rebecca Adler-Nissen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Reviews

'The authors aptly show how some of the key conceptual building blocks of IR theory, such as power, governance, and practice, as well as major empirical areas of research like norms, identity, community, and sovereignty can profit from a Bourdieu-based perspective...Because of Bourdieu's important intellectual tradition and the competence with which the contributors to this volume have distilled this tradition for IR, this book will undoubtedly have a long life and help bring Bourdieu-based IR theory closer to the mainstream.' - Emanuel Adler, University of Toronto, Canada.

'The book represents a valuable contribution to the ongoing engagement with sociological ideas and methods within IR and, in particular, the study of practice. It will occupy an important place in this literature due to its main objective: to provide an entry point for researchers and students of world politics to engage with the complex and analytically useful ideas of Bourdieu. There is a need for a book of this sort because different IR scholars have incorporated Bourdieu into their research problems, but no other volume currently exists to bring the experience of these efforts together for a wider audience.' - Claudia Aradau, King's College London, UK.

'The different chapters are well-conceived not simply in terms of introducing Bourdieu, but in elucidating how his creative conceptual tools can inform various thematic problems in IR' - Matthew Eagleton-Pierce, University of Exeter, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9780415870757
Author Rebecca Adler-Nissen
Format Paperback
Page Count 242
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 460g