After Liberalism in World Politics? Towards an International Political Theory of Care

Abstract

This paper explores the potential for an international political theory of care as an alternative to liberalism in the context of contemporary global politics. It argues that relationality and interdependence, and the responsibilities for and practices of care that arise therewith, are fundamental aspects of moral life and sites of political contestation that have been systematically denied and obfuscated under liberalism. A political theory of care brings into view the responsibilities and practices of care that sustain not just ‘bare life’ but all social life, from nuclear and extended families to local, national and transnational communities. It disrupts and challenges the individualism of liberalism, and the associated valorization of ‘freedom’, ‘autonomy’, and ‘toleration’. Instead, it emphasizes an ontology of relationality and interdependence that accepts the existence of vulnerability without reifying particular individuals, groups or states as ‘victims’ or ‘guardians’. Furthermore, by demonstrating the gendered and raced nature of caring in the contemporary world—from the household to the transnational level—an international political theory of care challenges our received assumptions about ‘dependence’ in world politics, and opens up space to interrogate politically not only gender but race and other aspects of inequality in the global political economy.

Keywords:

• Care
• Responsibility
• Interdependence
• Relationality
• International Political Theory
• Liberalism
• Individualism
• Global Political Economy

Notes

¹The transnationalization of care refers to the flow of (mainly women) caregivers from low-income countries to wealthier countries. The concept of the ‘global care chain’ (Parrenas 2001) illustrates the effects of this migration, as women often leave their own children in the care of another female relative in their country of origin in order to seek opportunities abroad that will help them support those children.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fiona Robinson

Fiona Robinson is an associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Canada