This book discusses postpositivist theories foregrounding postpositivism against the reigning realist and positivist-pluralist orthodoxies.
The book explicates seven theories, not as disparate endeavours, but as developments linked by a common thread that seeks to enunciate globalist emancipatory goals for the theoretical field and the world that these theories seek to change. It focuses on the following themes: feminism, environmentalism or green theory, the English school, critical theory, constructivism, postmodernism and postcolonialism. Additionally, a separate chapter on globalization shows that while mainstream (neo)realist international relations theories respond hostilely to globalization and liberal-pluralist theories react benignly to it, postpositivist theories positively welcome it. The book offers a competent meta-theoretical gridwork, showing on which side of the opposing disciplinary positions in the fourth debate each of the seven theories are located. It is a comprehensive guide to the postpositivist restructuring of the discipline of international relations.
This book will be of interest to researchers and students of political science, international relations, history, humanities and literature.
About the Author: Amartya Mukhopadhyay is former Professor and Chair of Political Science Department, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Commerce at Kalyani University, India; and former Professor and Chair of Political Science Department, Calcutta University, India. His research interests include political theory, political thought, IR theory, policy studies, cultural politics and sociology of literature. His recent publications include, Politics, Society and Colonialism: An Alternative Understanding of Tagore's Responses, Foundation Books (2010); India in Russian Orientalism: Travel Narratives and Beyond (2013); (Ed.) Contextualizing Democratic Governance in India: Some Perspectives (2013) and Tura, Trisha and Debang-er Galpo (Stories of Tura, Trisha and Debang), Bengali Fiction (2023).
