Suchergebnisse

This article presents a reflection on the state of the discipline of International Relations (IR) in South Africa, focusing specifically on questions about its theoretical content and 'Africanness'. The country's unique history continues to have a significant impact on the development of the discipline and the type of research conducted, with security and foreign policy remaining the core of the field. It is contended that, despite significant advancements over the past decade, the discipline remains theoretically underdeveloped. The demand of policy relevance that continues to constrain scholars is viewed as one of the main contributing factors to this state of affairs, and is discussed in some detail. While the subject matter of IR in South Africa—both in terms of research and teaching—is predominantly African, the approach—both theoretically and methodologically, remains largely western-centric. South African scholars are challenged to problematise existing understandings of IR and to interrogate the applicability of western-centric concepts and theories to Africa.

This article engages with the question whether India's identity predisposes it to playing a specific international role, in particular one which promotes the redistribution of power and wealth in the international system. This is done by exploring emerging and competing identity constructions and perspectives on the role that India should play in the world. It is argued that the liberal or pragmatic view, which advocates working within the prevailing global order and integration with the global economy in order to advance India's economic performance, is currently dominant. At the same time, however, it is contended that India has numerous identities that are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and which lead to what has been called India's foreign policy ambiguity. Four possible explanations for this ambiguity are proposed, namely: mimicry versus differentiation; reluctant radicalism; strategic moral posturing; and differentiation across issue areas. The article concludes that the Indian state is predominantly concerned about its own position in the global order, and less so about the plight of the developing world, but that global redistribution may well be a by-product of India's foreign policy.

Conceptions of childhood in terms of 'evil' and 'innocence' transcend time and culture. These conflicting images are deployed by Chris Jenks as the Dionysian and Apollonian models of childhood to symbolize external and internal forms of control. Drawing on the literature on governmentality this paper revisits these models and introduces a third model, the 'Athenian' child, analogous and supplementary to those developed by Jenks. This model is necessary in order to take account of relatively recent strategies in the government of childhood, which, predicated on understandings of children in terms of competence and agency, operate via responsibility and reflexivity.