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Bourdieu in International Relations – Rethinking Key Concepts in IR

Processes of increasing internationalisation have posed a marked challenge to sociology. For many years now, debates on ‘methodological nationalism’ and related issues have indicated that there is a need for sociology to move beyond the dualism of the ‘national’ and the ‘international’. Nowhere is this as true as in Europe, where the European Union adds to the sociological dilemma. Interestingly, the same problem is found in the tradition of International Relations (IR). While sociologists attempt to cross the divide from the side of the ‘national’, IR scholars are trying to do so coming from the ‘international’. Seen from this perspective, this edited volume can be viewed as a fruitful encounter between the two traditions. The book brings together a select group of IR scholars who draw on both theoretical and empirical insights from Bourdieu to grapple with problems of their own tradition. In that sense, the aim of the volume is very clear: drawing inspiration from Bourdieu’s sociology to advance the understanding of international relations. As Adler-Nissen argues in the introduction, Bourdieu’s sociology can help IR scholars reconceptualising ‘the international’, by breaking with the dualism between an orderly national realm and an anarchistic international realm. Furthermore, Bourdieu can be used to reconceptualise key concepts in IR and underlying assumptions about IR knowledge. Apart from the introduction and a chapter on Bourdieu’s concepts, each chapter covers a central concept in IR: Methodology, Knowledge, Power, Strategy, Security, Culture, Gender, Norms, Sovereignty, Integration and Citizenship. These are short, but well-written chapters that demonstrate how Bourdieu’s sociology can help reinterpret these concepts. In a way, this conceptual focus may seem at odds with Bourdieu’s denunciation of ‘theoretical theory’ and emphasis on empirical research. However, the conceptual focus is a great organising principle for the book and allows the authors to communicate with the IR literature without making long exposés on Bourdieu’s entire theoretical apparatus. A good example of this is Guzzini’s chapter on power, which illustrates the usefulness of Bourdieu’s relational and non-reductionist understanding of power within IR. Underlining the performative power of language,