Heterarchy: Toward Paradigm Shift in World Politics

ABSTRACT

International Relations theory has been dominated since the study of IR formally began at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1919 by the presumption that world politics is at its core a system of states. We argue that this way of conceiving world politics was (a) always problematic and challengeable, and (b) time-bound and increasingly anachronistic. In the 21^st century world politics is becoming increasingly multi-nodal and characterised by heterarchy – the predominance of cross-cutting sectoral mini- and meso-hierarchies above, below and cutting across states. These heterarchical institutions and processes are characterized by increasing autonomy and special interest capture. In this context, states today are no longer primarily ‘guardian states’ but more and more ‘reactive states’; state capacity is not simply eroded but entangled in hybrid structures and processes. A fundamental paradigm shift is required in our understanding of how world politics works.

KEYWORDS:

• Heterarchy
• globalization
• fragmentation
• reactive state
• paradigm shift

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosalba Belmonte

Rosalba Belmonte is post-doc researcher in Gender Studies and Adjunt Professor of Sociology at Tuscia University. She holds a Phd in Politics, Policies and Globalization at University of Perugia where she carried out a research on extra-state authorities. Her research interests include political power, extra-state authorities, global politics and gender-based violence.

Philip G. Cerny

Philip G. Cerny is Professor Emeritus of Politics and Global Affairs at the University of Manchester and Rutgers University. He studied at Kenyon College, Sciences Po and Manchester. He also taught at the Universities of York and Leeds and was a visiting fellow or professor at Harvard University, Sciences Po, Dartmouth College and New York University. His books include The Changing Architecture of Politics (Sage1990) and Rethinking World Politics (Oxford University Press 2010). His most recent publications are ‘From Theory to Practice: The Paradox of Neoliberal Hegemony in Twenty-First-Century WorldPolitics’, in Benjamin Martill and Sebastian Schindler, eds., Theory as Ideology in International Relations: The Politics of Knowledge (Routledge: 2020) and ‘The New Pessimism in Twenty-First Century World Politics’, in In Tim Stevens and Nicholas Michelsen, eds., Pessimism in International Relations: Provocations, Possibilities, Politics (Palgrave Macmillan:2019).