- All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
- Vol: 11 Issue: 1
- Reflexive Solidarity: Toward a Broadening of What It Means to be "Scientific" in Global IR...
Reflexive Solidarity: Toward a Broadening of What It Means to be "Scientific" in Global IR Knowledge
Authors : Yong-soo Eun
Pages : 107-122
Doi:10.20991/allazimuth.1024925
View : 15 | Download : 5
Publication Date : 2022-01-19
Article Type : Research
Abstract :This article shows that the problem of "West-centrism” in the study of International Relations (IR) is synonymous with the problem of the dominance of positivism, a particular version of science that originated in the modern West. How can we open up this double parochialism in IR? The article calls for reflexive solidarity as a way out. This indicates that on-going Global IR projects need to revamp their geography-orientated approaches and instead seek solidarity with other marginalised scholars irrespective of their geographical locations or geocultural backgrounds to build wide avenues in which not only positivist (i.e., causal-explanatory) inferences but also normative theorising and ethnographically attuned approaches are all accepted as different but equally scientific ways of knowing in IR. As a useful way of going about this reflexive solidarity, this article suggests autobiography.Keywords : Global IR, non-Western IR, positivism, science, reflexivity, solidarity, autobiography