International/Inequality

The international is already constituted through the legitimation of specific forms of inequality. This paper explores four: world-wide patterns of economic inequality; the principle and historical experience of the "great powers" as a guarantee of international "order"; the capa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Studies Review 2002-07, Vol.4 (2), p.7-24
Main Author: Walker, R.B.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Discrimination
Equality
Foreign policy
Hegemony
Inequality
International politics
International Relations
Justice
Narrative modes
Political discrimination
Political Systems
Political violence
Realism
Social contract
Social Inequality
Sovereign states
Sovereignty
Violence
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Summary:The international is already constituted through the legitimation of specific forms of inequality. This paper explores four: world-wide patterns of economic inequality; the principle and historical experience of the "great powers" as a guarantee of international "order"; the capacities of specific kinds of political community to participate in the modern system of states; and the constitutive value field in which the international is judged as the negation of the positive values ascribed to statist forms of political community. It does so in relation to claims about freedom, scale and the necessary practices of modern discrimination. This exploration leads to the conclusion that the primary significance of claims about new inequalities in an international context is that they express the increasing difficulty of thinking about equality/inequality in political terms, let alone of responding adequately to the "violences" and injustices that might be attributed to multiple kinds of inequalities in various settings.
ISSN:1521-9488
1468-2486
DOI:10.1111/1521-9488.00252