“bad states”. I will examine these issues with reference to the work of Peter Lawler,
who sees in them the basis of a case for an internationalist account of politics.^34
Internationalism is not, as such, a neglected term, either in international
political discourse or mainstream international relations theory.^35 But Lawler argues
that international political theory has largely neglected what he terms “classical
internationalism”. Indeed there is a strong case that the discourse of international
political theory has been impoverished by this relative neglect. To take one recent
example, the idea is absent from the overarching classification in Simon Caney’s
influential theory of global justice, which makes for a rather dichotomised view of
the issues he discusses.^36 The distinction I make in this section, between articulating
a cosmopolitan sensibility and an internationalist one, may seem a matter of
nuance rather than substance. But I wish to argue that it is a nuance that blinds us,
in considering the embedding of humanitarian solidarity, to precisely those ways in
which human solidarity can accumulate and become institutionalised in practice.
Moreover, Kimberly Hutchings correctly notes that “[one] of the most
striking things about contemporary liberal/communitarian debates is the extent of
agreement over practice (most participants support some form of liberal social
democracy) and the intensity of disagreement over theory”.^37 I would add that
another point of agreement is a deep commitment to humanitarianism. They are
all, in their writings, clearly motivated by a desire to articulate and defend our
common humanity. These two areas of rough agreement, the immediate practical
34
Helpfully, Lawler also employs Erskine’s account of collective agency. Lawler, "The Good
State: In Praise of 'Classical' Internationalism": 442. My account here also has parallels with
the solidarist wing of the English School, especially in its understanding of the state as the
local agent of the common good, but with the major twist that the nature of the common
good is highly contested, indeed is what is being n 35 egotiated.
For a prominent recent example see G. John Ikenberry, "Liberal Internationalism 3.0:
America and the Dilemmas of Liberal World Order", Perspectives on Politics 7, no. 01
(2009). Good historical accounts are Carsten Holbraad, Internationalism and Nationalism in
European Political Thought (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). David Long and Brian
C. Schmidt, eds., Imperialism and Internationalism in the Discipline of International
Relations (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005). For a typically idiosyncratic
perspective see Fred Halliday, "Three Concepts of Internationalism", International Affairs
64, no. 2 (1988). 36
37 Caney, Justice Beyond Borders.
Kimberly Hutchings, International Political Theory: Rethinking Ethics in a Global Era
(London: Sage, 1999), 29.
marcin
(Marcin)
#1