The (In)Convenience of Culture in International Relations: notes toward another Epistemology | (In)Conveniência da Cultura nas Relações Internacionais: apontamentos para outra Epistemologia

Abstract

This paper reflects on the centrality of culture in the field of International Relations, demonstrating how it is addressed by two emblematic authors within the dominant paradigms of the discipline, Samuel Huntington (1997) and Joseph Nye (2002). The discussion draws on contributions from Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Linguistic Studies in order to problematize the understanding of culture that has become widespread in International Relations, especially since the early decades of the twenty-first century. The argument starts from the premise that the invisibilization of culture in epistemological debates stems from a deliberate erasure of its agency as a driving force in political disputes and in the construction and maintenance of this discipline’s foundational status quo (Jahn, 2004). Thus, the paper points to the need to reflect not only on the relevance of culture, but also on how its epistemological treatment occurs as an alterity to the Hobbesian State of Nature.