Hidden in plain sight: racism in international relations theory

Abstract

This article addresses the centrality of racism in international relations (IR) theory; specifically, in realism and liberalism, two of the most prominent paradigms of IR. It examines the extent to which these major paradigms of world politics are oriented by racist—primarily, white supremacist—precepts that inhere within their foundational construct, namely, anarchy. I maintain that due to the centrality of anarchy—and other racially infused constructs—within these prominent paradigms, white supremacist precepts are not only nominally associated with the origins of the field, but have an enduring impact on IR theory and influence contemporary theses ranging from neorealist conceptions of the global system to liberal democratic peace claims, and constructivist theses as well.

Notes

¹ These sentiments were echoed in the arguments of prominent cultural relativists such as Bronislaw Malinowski, and they also resonated in the arguments of such prominent political scientists as Burgess and such sociologists as Parks. For example, Furedi (1998, 93) points out that ‘Malinowski was as scathing of Nordic supremacist theories as he was of ideas of race equality’. Malinowski rationalized support for the ‘colour bar’ in his ‘A plea for an effective colour bar’ in 1931. Burgess proffered a white supremacist hierarchy of races in his The foundations of political science. Park's social contact thesis portended racial conflict as a result of contact between races.

² On racial formation and re-formation, see Omi and Winant (1996). For a critique of the mystification of white supremacism in racial formation theses, see Henderson (2007, 340–343).

³ Research on the social construction of racial identity also falls within this category although its focus is on the role of the social rather than the physical environment in the construction of racial categories (for example, Winant 2001).

⁴ Exceptions include Vitalis (2000) and Henderson (1995; 2007)

⁵ There are exceptions: The Helsinki Sanomat international edition (12 August 2004) reports that Tatu Vanhanen, former professor of political science at the University of Tampere in Finland (and father of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen), who studies the role of democratization among African states, caused a stir when he insinuated that evolution has made Europeans and North Americans more intelligent than Africans. He argued that African poverty is largely a result of the low IQ of Africans as compared with Europeans. Similar racist arguments are found in the strain of sociobiology and biopolitics that focuses on international affairs.

⁶ See Vitalis (2000) for a critique of racist conceptions in popular liberal academic arguments on the evolution of Western ‘humanitarian’ norms.