Theoretical debates in the field of International Relations and the relative success of constructivism have led an increasing number of researchers to use tools and concepts borrowed from sociology and linguistics. At the same token, discourse analysis arose as an interesting method. If adapted for use in the discipline of IR, it could contribute to a comprehensive approach for analysing power relations in the international society, in particular regarding the definition of interests and (...)  lire suite

In the field of international relations, social sciences paradigms -not without prejudices- hide an unexpected object within their self-deprecation : political ideas. Realists often summon, yet not without a pinch of salt, concepts borrowed from pessimistic philosophies of human nature and voluntarism. Liberal ironicism, with its penchant for anti-state and cosmopolitist trans-nationalist ideas, hypertrophies cooperation and integration with law or morale. Structuralists, and other (...)  lire suite

Historians Pierre Renouvin and Jean-Baptiste Duroselle have extended the practice of diplomatic history to transform it into the history of international relations, a history of the relationships between peoples, not only state. The former, by inventing the notion of « deep forces », has attempted to measure the weight of demographic and economic forces, the weight of mentalities and great collective feelings on the evolutions and quakes of international relations. The latter has studied (...)  lire suite

This essay tries to analyse the illegitimate status of the international object in standard pure economics. It shows that the difficulty to think the international object is related to the foundations of standard economics, as it was elaborated during the last two centuries. From this starting point, the essay tries to interpret the « new international economics » which appeared in the last fifteen years. These works contribute to show, partly unintentionally, that by becoming more (...)  lire suite