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Scorekeepers, Game Players and Political Action: Normativity and Practical Reasoning of Brazil and India in International Politics

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Scorekeepers, Game Players and Political Action: Normativity and Practical Reasoning of Brazil and India in International Politics Scorekeepers, Game Players and Political Action: Normativity and Practical Reasoning of Brazil and India in International Politics By Sasikumar Shanmuga Sundaram Submitted to Central European University Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations In partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy CEU eTD Collection Supervisor: Professor Xymena Kurowska (Word Count: 92,500) Budapest, Hungary October 2017 Copyright Notice I hereby declare that this thesis contains no materials accepted for any other degree in any other institution. The thesis contains no materials previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgment is made in the form of bibliographical reference. Sasikumar Shanmuga Sundaram 20 October 2016 CEU eTD Collection i Abstract What are the conditions under which and the processes through which political actors settle practical matters in international politics, make some actions contingently authoritative and marginalize alternative discourses? This thesis argues that political action is neither a logical consequence of objective international reality nor mere subjective preferences of actors – there is nothing inherently inevitable about political action against competing alternative discourses. Rather, actions become contingently authoritative in the game of giving and asking for reasons. In particular, how political actors engage in practical reasoning is critical. Drawing from recent advancements in analytical pragmatists’ philosophy, particularly the works of Robert Brandom, I provide a fresh conceptual perspective on practical reasoning in international politics by showing that discursive practice is deontic where members keep track of one’s own and others’ normative commitments and entitlements – participants are thus deontic scorekeepers. While engaging in the game of giving and asking for reasons, political actors not only make claims; they attribute, acknowledge, and undertake different commitments and entitlements, keep scores on each other and work within the proprieties of deontic scorekeeping network. Thus, political actors through practical reasoning make several inferences, justify their moves, and intentionally judge and act and marginalize alternative discourses. Crucially, different types of norms that arise in the networked interaction-in-context lead to different patterns of practical reasoning for action. I analyze this distinct form of practical reasoning of actors in international politics on the issue of humanitarian crisis abroad in two broad historical case studies. The first study examines CEU eTD Collection India’s military intervention in East Pakistan in 1971. The Indira Gandhi administration’s military intervention was not inevitable, as there were well-entrenched discourses in Indian political topography since the early twentieth century in the form of non-intervention, diplomatic criticism, rebel support, and enlisting the support of Great Powers to manage humanitarian ii crises abroad. I will show that the interaction-in-context among multiple scorekeepers on the East Pakistan crisis triggered an instrumental norm type with implications on patterns of inferences and on what reasons interlocutors accepted as good reasons for action. Through the game of giving and asking for reasons, the Indira Gandhi administration judged that securitization of refugees is the proper completion of its practical reasoning and marginalized competing alternatives. The second case study examines Brazil’s intervention in Haiti in 2004. The Lula administration’s humanitarian intervention was not inevitable, as there were three well- entrenched discourses in Brazilian political topography since the early twentieth century in the form of non-intervention, diplomatic mediation, and Chapter VI UN Peacekeeping missions. I show the interaction-in-context among scorekeepers on Haiti triggered an institutional norm type. The Lula administration through the game of giving and asking for reasons exhibited solidarity to a fellow Black-Brother country in the Hemisphere and utilized the practical inference of non- indifference to marginalize alternative discourses. Here the scorekeepers endorsed Brazil’s claims on solidarity and non-indifference in Haiti not as transcendental values, but as good reasons for action offered by a bona fide player in the region. The thesis will have implications for rethinking our conventional modes of understanding the processes of political action and agency on practical matters in international politics. Instead of engaging in a retrospective reading of history or asserting that the boundaries of acceptable discursive practices can be established in advance of the interaction-in-context, one has to foreground the normative conditions under which and deontic scorekeeping processes through CEU eTD Collection which some actions become contingently authoritative against competing discourses. iii Acknowledgments The writing of this thesis was made by the generosity, support, and inspiration of many good people and institutions and as many years passed by, I have incurred many large debts of gratitude to them. It is impossible to thank all people who have helped and supported me personally and academically. However, to certain people and institutions, I owe a particularly important debt. First, I would like to thank Central European University (CEU), the finest academic institution by which this Ph.D. research was generously funded and supported. I only hope this project is a tiny but a worthy tribute to the Open Society Mission of pursuing socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry. I wish to thank the faculty and staff at the Department of International Relations; Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy, and International Relations; Department of Philosophy; and the staffs of the CEU library all of whom gave strong support for this project. At CEU, my thinking on questions concerning political action and agency in international politics came to be shaped by a number of people, importantly of my two mentors Paul Roe and Xymena Kurowska. Paul has been a constant source of both intellectual inspiration and support in connection with this project. If not for his patience, generous comments and constructive criticisms on several early drafts, this project would not have seen its completion. Having agreed with me that my previous drafts needed tremendous improvements, Paul taught me the need for careful reading of the existing literature. This is important because, in the early years of my Ph.D., I went around presumptuously and unashamedly to knockdown the existing literature – oh, this argument wrong; ah, that evidence is bad; oh, this theory is terrible! Paul was a great example to show academic humility with creativity and open-mindedness and vital in enabling me to “learn” something important rather than carry a hammer around. Moreover, by insisting that I should write clearly, Paul also gave me my first lessons in academic writing. If the thesis still has problems with clarity, which it undoubtedly has, it is despite his best efforts and suggestions. Xymena has been a source of intellectual stimulation and support and I have been truly fortunate over the last periods of this project to find myself with an incredibly supportive and rigorous intellectual who enabled me to systematically workout the finer aspects of the theoretical underpinnings of the thesis. Xymena was very generous with her time, provided extensive comments, which helped me clarify and to sharpen the arguments of the project. In my formative graduate student years, Xymena told me as straightforward as possible that Ph.D. is not for everyone! It took the end of the project for both of us to be truly surprised in the way we see the world. Xymena was surprised to see that I slowly gave up my impatience through a matter of forming a new habit of thought. And I was surprised to see how profoundly her advice and suggestions, that sounded difficult in the beginning, contributed to a new style of thinking on theoretical issues in international relations. Again, if the arguments of the thesis have CEU eTD Collection problems – nobody writes the last word on any topic – it is despite her efforts to help me. In Brazil, Professor Rafael Duarte Villa at the University of São Paulo immensely shaped my thinking about Brazilian foreign and security policies. Rafael’s extremely supportive attitude, his lessons to me on the intricacies of Brazilian identity and cultural discourses in foreign policy issues, gave me the confidence to pursue my research and take the first step. Rafael also read my draft chapters on Brazil and made careful remarks, suggestions, and offered constructive criticisms. I have learned more from him than is perhaps immediately apparent from the pages ahead. iv I am also grateful to all of those who contributed their time to discuss my project with them. For serious theoretical discussions, I thank Stefano Guzzini, Friedrich Kratochwil, Erin Jenne, Matteo Fumagalli, and David Weberman. I am not sure I can ever repay my debt to Stefano for all the time he spent discussing this project with me both in Copenhagen and in Rio de Janeiro. Erin and Matteo as members of my committee gave much-needed encouragement in this project at crucial moments. I presented my theoretical framework of the project at the American Pragmatist Association Conference in Dublin and received many helpful suggestions. Specifically,
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