Abstract
Although international relations theory is witnessing a veritable explosion of theoretical works in the general area of what I call, for reasons that will become clearer below, emancipatory international relations (EIR), a full-length critical study of this genre of theorizing has not yet been written, so far as I am aware. My project is to fill the lacuna. This will involve describing, analysing and criticizing a group of theories whose central assumptions and presuppositions have been shaped by continental philosophy, especially those derived from the work of Kant, Marx and Nietzsche. In my study I will examine certain common features of theories or discourses loosely divided into four groups: Kantian cosmopolitan; international critical theory; poststructuralist and postmodernist theories; and feminist international relations theories. My goal in this article is to describe these forms of emancipatory international relations and to examine why they count as emancipatory and how they differ from other kinds of theory. `I see no reason why we should not be business like about the nebulous.' - Anonymous.
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