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Orientation in World Politics: Critical Theory and Long-Term Perspectives on Human Development

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Orientation in World Politics: Critical Theory and Long-Term Perspectives on Human Development Orientation in World Politics: Critical Theory and Long-term Perspectives on Human Development Andre Saramago Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University 2015 Word Count of thesis: 95.259 words. DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed (candidate) Date 15/02/2016 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where *correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed (candidate) Date 15/02/2016 [*this refers to the extent to which the text has been corrected by others] STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date 15/02/2016 E-THESIS STATEMENT I hereby give consent for my thesis to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by Aberystwyth University. Signed (candidate) Date 15/02/2016 i ii Abstract The need for orientation is shared by human beings everywhere. People need to learn about their conditions of existence in order to exercise some degree of control over them as a fundamental requirement for their survival both as individuals and as societies. This thesis is about the challenges that human global interdependence raises to the fulfilment of this task. It argues that the globe-spanning webs of interdependent humankind produce a collective problem of orientation characterised by the requirement for a more cosmopolitan perspective on the human condition while recognising the difficulty in achieving just that, given how all theorising is necessarily embedded in particular social, cultural and historical contexts. Through a reinterpretation of the works of Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Jürgen Habermas and Norbert Elias the thesis asks how critical international theory might provide a more adequate answer to the problem of orientation. Its main argument is that this answer implies a recovery of grand narratives on the long-term process of human development which avoid a reproduction of the shortcomings with which they have been historically associated; namely, serving as a channel for the projection of parochial and ethnocentric points of view which, under the cover of cosmopolitanism, legitimize practices of exclusion and domination. The conclusion to this thesis is that a synthesis between critical theory and process sociology would enable the production of grand narratives that promote a more cosmopolitan perspective on the conditions of existence of globalised humanity while recognising and protecting the plurality of forms of human self-expression. In this manner, the thesis opens the way towards the development of more adequate means of orientation on the basis of which people might better find their bearings in the world and understand how they might come to make more of their history under conditions of their own choosing. iii Strange that in the cold light of the stars, in which even the dearest love is frostily assessed, and even the possible defeat of our half-waking world is contemplated without remission or praise, the human condition does not lose but gains significance. Strange, that it seems more, not less, urgent to play some part in this struggle, this brief effort of animalcules striving to win some increase of lucidity before the ultimate darkness. (Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker) iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Chapter One. Critical theory, orientation and world politics 12 1. Orientation and cosmopolitan perspectives 12 2. Grand narratives and the problem of orientation 20 3. The triad of controls 28 4. Involvement and detachment 33 Conclusion 42 Chapter Two. Immanuel Kant: History and Idea 44 1. Rational natural beings 45 2. The kingdom of ends 49 3. History as a rational process 53 4. The triple constitutionalization of world politics 59 5. Universalism and history 66 Conclusion 71 Chapter Three. Karl Marx: The historical emergence of humanity 73 1. The humanism of nature and the naturalism of humanity 75 2. Production and history 82 2.1. The universalisation of humanity 83 2.2. The dialectical movement of history 90 3. The dialectic of capitalism 96 3.1. The conscious control of the human natural metabolism 97 3.2. The global self-determination of the species 104 4. The plurality of the human condition 109 Conclusion 114 Chapter Four. Jürgen Habermas: Evolutionary logic and historical dynamics 116 1. Reconstructing Marx 119 2. Communicative action and social evolution 125 2.1. Communication and moral development 129 2.2. The logic of social evolution 130 3. Recovering Kant 136 4. Civilisation and reification 145 Conclusion 155 Chapter Five. Jürgen Habermas: The political constitution of world society 157 1. Global interdependence and human control 158 2. The political constitution of world society 162 2.1. The European model 165 2.2. The cosmopolitan condition 173 3. Orientation in history 178 Conclusion 187 v Chapter Six. Norbert Elias: A detour via detachment 188 1. Marx and the involvement–detachment balance 192 2. The triad of controls in human development 201 2.1. Symbol emancipation and control over nature 201 2.2. Self-control and civilisation 212 2.3. Civilisation and social control 219 Conclusion 230 Chapter Seven. Towards a synthesis 232 1. World politics in a process sociological perspective 234 1.1. The ‘we–I balance’ in post-national associations of states 235 1.2. Double-bind processes and monopoly formation 242 2. Towards a synthesis 250 2.1. Process sociology and critical theory 251 2.2. Civilisation and self-determination 253 2.3. Controlling control 258 Conclusion 266 Conclusion 268 Bibliography 278 vi Acknowledgements This study has been developed throughout the last four years in the Department of International Politics of Aberystwyth University, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, to which I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for it would not have been possible without its support. Thanks are also due to Nuno Canas Mendes, my scholarship supervisor, for his support, friendship and guidance throughout the whole process of my PhD. Furthermore, I would also like to thank my PhD colleagues for all of their advice, friendship, and encouragement throughout this whole period. Special thanks are owed to Bleddyn Bowen, Alex Hoseason, Markus Göransson, Danita Burke, Lorena De Vita, Danielle Young, Matthew Rees, Dyfan Powel, Sonja Kittelsen, Katja Daniels, Carolin Kaltofen, Sorana Jude, Alexandros Koutsoukis, Florian Edelmann, Kat Hone, Adhemar Mercado and Sarah Jamal. Thanks are also in order to the administrative staff of the Department of International Politics, for their always sympathetic support with the practicalities of academic life, and to the Department’s academic staff, for several discussions and continued support in these last four years, which made me feel part of a shared academic cohort. I would also like to extend my thanks to friends that helped me get started on this path, in particular to Beatriz, who taught me the possibility of a philosophical life, and Isabel, who helped me acquire the aspiration of academia. Special thanks are due to my two supervisors Andrew Linklater and Kamila Stullerova whose unshakable support, friendship, patience and dedication were fundamental to the completion of this study and for teaching me the true meaning of being an academic. To Andrew, I would like to thank for all the long discussions, for teaching me to take the long- term perspective and how to be a critical theorist, as well as for his support, even against his better advice, of my enthusiasm with Elias’s work. To Kamila, I would like to thank for all the advice regarding intellectual life, for her trust in my abilities and for constantly pushing me to go further in my arguments, as well as for teaching me how to think as a political theorist. Some of the main arguments in this study have been tested before audiences in the United Kingdom in Aberystwyth University, the LSE and Leicester University, and in Portugal in the University of Lisbon. Furthermore, they have also been published, in different form, in Revista Estudos do Séc.XX , 13, 2013, pp. 371-387 and Human Figurations , 4: 2, 2014. vii I dedicate this study to my wife, Liliana, for all the love, support and patience throughout the years spent on this project, and for all the insights and long discussions of ideas, which have been fundamental in helping me find my way around this particular labyrinth. viii Introduction The need for orientation is a fundamental aspect of human existence. Both individually and collectively, human beings have always depended on their capacity to orientate themselves in the world in order to survive. Individually, to become full adult members of their species, all children need to learn how to control their internal drives and impulses in order to live amongst other human beings in accordance with the standards of their societies. Collectively, human groups need to learn how to exercise some degree of control over non- human nature in order to satisfy their needs, as well as how to regulate intra- and inter- group social relations and conflicts. These learning processes entail the production of symbolically-codified stocks of knowledge which function as means of orientation on the basis of which people find their bearings in the world, understand their societies, how to live in their context, how to relate to outsiders and how to acquire a relative degree of collective control over their conditions of existence which is essential for their continued survival.
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