For a long time, International Relations’ (IR) spatiotemporal parameters could be summarized in two words: Western and modern. The recent growth of Historical IR has contributed to a dramatic extension of these spatiotemporal coordinates, extending the discipline’s gaze to places and times that had previously been neglected. A key challenge that this ‘historical turn’ presents for IR theory, and that we take up in this article, is the proper formulation of analytical concepts capable of ‘travelling’ across different places, cultures, languages and time periods. So far, the existing Historical IR literature on concepts has focused primarily on the historicization of existing categories (especially through conceptual history and genealogical methods) and has not yet addressed the problem of concept formation head-on. In this article, we take up this challenge by theorizing the role of ‘travelling concepts’ in Historical IR – concepts that are neither entirely bound to their specific context nor entirely divorced from it. Returning to Max Weber’s work on ideal types, we suggest that travelling concepts are not only possible for historicist work, but necessary, and that it is therefore important for Historical IR scholars to be open and reflexive about their use of such concepts. By rejecting essentialism and recognizing the historical situatedness of the scholar, Weber encourages us to view the entire lexicon of Historical IR as an evolving archive for conceptual historians of the future to explore.
Move Forward, a progressive party secure a historic win in the 2023 Thailand general election and nominated Pita Limjaroenrat as the new Prime Minister. However, Move Forward was thwarted in parliament and betrayed by its coalition partner Pheu Thai which shifted to support the royalist party. The anticlimax of Move Forward's victory poses a major challenge to Thailand's efforts towards a more democratic direction. This paper examines the dynamics of Thai politics and its prospects for democracy after the 2023 election by utilizing the idea of Constructivism and employing a literature study method. This paper argues that Move Forward's victory is a strong signal of the waning public support for pro-military and royalist parties. Move Forward's ability to attract the support of Pheu Thai loyalists and to win the upcoming election with sufficient margin of victory are going to be pivotal.
International Relations (IR) theorists have increasingly embraced global history to correct disciplinary myths and develop more inclusive theories of world politics. While this expansion promises to broaden the theoretical foundations of the field, we argue that it increases the risk of structural anachronism—the embedding of later-developed knowledge into the very construction of the historical record. Drawing on insights from historical methods, archival sciences, and the philosophy of history, we show how two retrospective processes—information-destroying, which shapes what is preserved, and information-obscuring, which governs how that information is organized—flatten ideational variation in the historical record and distort the evidentiary foundations on which scholars depend for testing and building theories of world politics. These distortions impact both positivist and interpretivist approaches to global history, leading scholars to make false positives, project coherence onto fragmented pasts, and underestimate the degree of historical change. As a result, efforts to globalize IR may reproduce the disciplinary myths and conceptual blind spots it aspires to overcome. We illustrate these dynamics through recent research on war and international order, and conclude with a paradox for IR theory’s relationship to history: As theory evolves, it can obscure the past by altering the very record it seeks to explain. This paradox calls for greater reflexivity about the epistemic costs of theorizing from structurally distorted records.
ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, Nueva York, Verso, 2023, 304 pp.
SILJA HÄUSERMANN y HERBERT KITSCHELT (eds.), Beyond Social Democracy: The Transformation of the Left in Emerging Knowledge Societies, Cambridge, Reino Unido, Cambridge University Press, 2024, 488 pp.
DEREK BOK, Attacking the Elites: What Critics Get Wrong—and Right—About America’s Leading Universities, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2024, 248 pp.
ELŻBIETA DRĄŻKIEWICZ y JARON HARAMBAM (eds.), What to Do About Conspiracy Theories? Academic Entanglements in Conflicts Over Truths, Nueva York, Routledge, 2024, 122 pp.
DANA R. FISHER, Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action, Nueva York, Columbia University Press, 2023, 250 pp.
VALERIE FREELAND, Power, Patronage and International Norms: A Grand Masquerade, Cambridge, Reino Unido, Cambridge University Press, 2024, 298 pp.
ANDRÉ BORGES, RYAN LLOYD y GABRIEL VOMMARO (eds.), The Recasting of the Latin American Right: Polarization and Conservative Reactions, Cambridge, Reino Unido, Cambridge University Press, 2024, 260 pp.
ANA COVARRUBIAS, CARLA YUMATLE y JEAN-MARIE CHENOU (coords.), El mundo visto desde América Latina: una revisión de los conceptos básicos de las relaciones internacionales, Buenos Aires , Siglo XXI Editores, 2024, 327 pp.
CLAUDIO LOMNITZ, Para una teología política del crimen organizado, Ciudad de México, Ediciones Era, 2023, 216 pp.
MAURICIO MERINO, Gato por liebre. La importancia de las palabras en la deliberación pública, Barcelona, Debate, 2023, 200 pp.
This article aims to analyze the historical trajectory and current state of relations between India and the United States, spanning from India's independence in 1947 to the present, with a focus on identifying key stages of development, outcomes, and prospects. The establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries has evolved through various phases, driven by economic, political, and ideological factors. However, certain limitations hinder the further deepening of this partnership, including disagreements on international political issues, India's pursuit of an independent foreign policy and reluctance to assume a subordinate role, inadequate US support on critical matters, and India's continued cooperation with Russia. Conversely, factors stimulating the growth of the strategic partnership encompass India's robust economic growth, its potential role as a counterbalance to China's expanding influence in Asia, shared interests in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, mutual concerns about regional security, recent progress in nuclear policy agreements, and expanding avenues for cooperation in diverse domains. The article further examines the unique characteristics of India's relationship with the United States, which shape the nature of their existing strategic partnership, such as the shifting focus from the political and strategic realm to economic interactions, India's commitment to maintaining "strategic autonomy" and non-alignment in its deepening cooperation, its ability to differentiate between political partnership and economic collaboration, and the preservation of a multi-vector foreign policy approach. Based on the analysis, the authors assert that while a strategic military and political alliance between the two powers is unlikely in the near future, their relationship will continue to evolve within the framework of a strategic partnership. The findings of this study will provide insights for policymakers in the South and Southeast Asia region to anticipate developments and adjust their policies accordingly.
In the defense core technology field, it is important to secure core technologies at a pace that is in line with the pace of technological development, which has become more advanced over time. However, the pace of technological advancement is faster than ever, and the need for weapons systems with new technologies is increasing. Nevertheless, it can be said that independently securing core technologies in all fields is almost impossible, considering the required costs and duration. International technology cooperation can overcome these cost and period constraints, and strengthen relations between countries. International technology cooperation in the field of defense core technology has began to overcome difficulties in independent development; however, the sharing and joint development of key defense-related technologies among countries has encountered various difficulties. Therefore, in this study, the factors affecting the performance (quantitative and qualitative) of core technology R&D projects in the defense sector were divided into individual competencies (professional skills, communication skills, leadership, and foreign language skills) and external factors (legal system, interrelationship, cost reduction, and period reduction), and research models and hypotheses were established. This hypothesis was verified through a survey and a multiple regression analysis. The analysis revealed that the derived influencing factors had a positive (+) effect on project performance, confirming that both individual competency and external factors are important in project performance.