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- Title
Rethinking pragmatism through the lens of Michel Foucault: governance of bilateral relations.
- Authors
Chowdhury, Suban Kumar
- Abstract
Pragmatism, responding to the call for 'decentring International Relations', fosters analytical eclecticism for resolving inter-paradigmatic disputes. John Dewey's pragmatism aligns seamlessly with constructivism, offering nuanced insights. However, in bilateral relations, pragmatism is often confined within realist frameworks, lacking analytical rigor for understanding governmentality. In this article, the author challenges this by emphasizing relational power dynamics and non-neutral knowledge, introducing 'balancing pragmatism' rooted in 'bricolage' for nuanced governance. Leveraging Foucauldian insights, the author reconceptualizes governance pragmatism within the power-knowledge interplay, illustrated by the India–Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). The LBA's success challenges realist power paradigms, recognizing the pivotal role of Foucauldian dynamics in enhancing pragmatic balancing. This enriches the constructivist paradigm with discerning governance. Interpreting pragmatism through a Foucauldian lens in the LBA underscores implications for bilateral governance, highlighting analytical eclecticism and adaptability within a Foucauldian framework to address geopolitical challenges. It advocates for a more inclusive analytical approach in international relations. Understanding 'balancing pragmatism' is crucial for practitioners, challenging the state-centric paradigm and emphasizing nuanced governance through the transformative intersection of power and knowledge. Interpreting pragmatism as a Foucauldian-informed balancing act, as seen in the LBA, holds broad implications for IR, urging scholars to integrate Foucault's dynamics for nuanced global analyses of pragmatic balancing.
- Subjects
DEWEY, John, 1859-1952; PRAGMATISM; DISPUTE resolution; POWER (Social sciences); GOVERNMENTALITY; ECLECTICISM; INTERNATIONAL relations
- Publication
International Affairs, 2024, Vol 100, Issue 2, p791
- ISSN
0020-5850
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/ia/iiae018