Thread by @bctallis

The thread based on this article went ballistic
- I *suspect* because of #Kraftwerk rather than #IRTheory
BUT there's something more to the piece than just the international politics of #Germany's postwar cultural history.
Short(er) 🧵
#Multiplicity
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

Difference has always been at the heart of #InternationalRelations (#IR)
- The very notion of ‘relations’ requires difference between the units doing the relating
- Despite the name, IR focused on states rather than nations as the units that related to each other.

These states, seen as clearly distinguishable were often imagined to represent particular nations, which could be seen as different - & neatly, even ‘naturally’ bordered from each other (e.g. Agnew, 1994).
https://wwhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692299408434268

Simplifying (somewhat), (Neo-)‘Realist’ approaches have built up from *quantitative* readings of difference – there are many identifiable states, but ‘a state, is a state, is a state’ – nuanced mainly with respect to capabilities, size & interests

Simplifying (somewhat) again, ‘Liberal’ approaches focused more on *qualitative* difference between states – especially regarding regime type (democracy/dictatorship) augmented by considering intl organisations & (some) non-state actors.

Both Realism & Liberalism remained focused on the state as clearly bounded prime conduit for & unit of International Relations.
🔥This has been well challenged by 'Constructivist' 'Critical' & 'Postpositivist' IR, which objected to 'Methodological Nationalism' & State Centrism🔥

that reified borders, essentialised nations, atomised societies & excluded important actors from analysis. In IR, one place in which this critical approach - including to the analysis of the international politics of culture (like the Kraftwerk piece) has been @ISA_IPSsection

& the broader IPS (International Political Sociology) scholarly community.
BUT some went further & called for IR to abandon 'the international' in favour of 'the global'
In IPS, Dirk Nabers & @frankstengel have been clearest & most radical on this

for them, the international, is hopelessly associated with state-centric scholarship which has "impeded our understanding of politics rather than stimulating it."
Instead we should take a global view that affirms the "non-existence of inside/outside distinctions"

and which make the limit between internal & external ... self & other ... impossible to identify."

researchgate.net/publication/32…

Escaping methodological nationalism & state-centrism are good goals -but doing so in this way, by abandoning the international, would come at too high a cost IMO.
IR would lose its unique perspective (& value added even if it has yet to fully realise this)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

By forsaking the international in this way, IR would also lose sight of 'the national' - a key mode of identification & meaning-making for people - despite nationalism still being a major phenomenon - as @sini_malesevic shows in his magisterial book, which everyone should read

Like @wrbucla, @sini_malesevic compellingly shows how & why national categories endure & why it makes sense to use them in analyses of e.g. 'German' music, society or culture (as in my Kraftwerk piece).
BUT, these political sociologies come with dangers of their own ...

Malešević notes the role of recognition of nation-states by other states & intl orgs & in intl law, & notes how national prestige is affected by e.g. sporting success, at no point does he afford a constitutive role for national identity to the international.

Instead, these interactions take place in 'the international arena' which implies atomistic, pre-formed states & nations competing or cooperating.
- and thus reproduces some of the problematic tendencies that Nabers & Stengel see in state-centric, methodologically national IR.

Malešević also dismisses cosmopolitan theories of globalisation (that individualise identity & erode national feeling) as irrelevant, elite preoccupations. That would mean overlooking a large part of Germany's postwar history (as well as Kraftwerk's)
& thus didn't appeal to me

In the article, I show how, using #Multiplicity (a new approach to IR), we can navigate a middle course between the indifferentiable 'critical global' & the 'grounded [& all too bounded] national'
I'll do an explainer on Multiplicity soon but for now, here's what's important

Multiplicity takes the broader scope (non-state actors, culture, society) of post-positivist approaches, & their permeable, relational understanding of e.g. societal actors & formations & uses this to understand inter-societal constitution & politics
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

By using #Multiplicity's co-constitutive approach:
- All societies are inter-societal,
- All nations are inter-national
we can explore how the ways these societies & nations co-exist, interact, combine & change
➡️affects claims or impositions of difference & Identity

This means that we can analyse & interpret how national societies remain 'particular' without being essentialising or overly-bounding them. We can look at how they make each other, in relation
[how, e.g. German society was shaped by & shaped UK & US societies in my piece)

& what this means for how different societies - & people - can live (& die).
So #Multiplicity offers a way to re-imagine & thus retain the international as IR's primary point or analysis - which is something other disciplines don't offer
multiplicity.online

I hope I show the value of that in the analysis of #Kraftwerk & postwar 🇩🇪 history & identity in the article & thread, which draw on but also add something different to the wonderful Cultural Studies literature & journalism on the band & #Germany.

https://twitter.com/bctallis/status/1538895530188840961?s=20&t=ZrukO4dgUhrIqXzRG9qoWg

So, there you go, a small, simplified illustration of Multiplicity's potential to bring a different understanding of identity & difference to #IPS & #IR - this is intended as a teaser so please read the piece before piling on me. :) /END
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

PS - #Multiplicity is an emerging research programme in #IR. The pieces from the Special Issue of @CoCo_journal coming out now (incl. the Kraftwerk piece) show some of its developments.
We have a @europeanisa #EWIS2022 workshop in July & #PEC2022 section in Sept. Stay tuned!