ISSN 1027-0353
African Journal of Political Science ISSN 3461-2165 Vol. 6 (9), pp. 001-011, September, 2012. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Debating international relations and its relevance to the third world
Boniface E.S. Mgonja1 and Iddi A.M. Makombe2
1Department of Political Science, University of Alberta, Canada.
2Institute of Development Studies, Mzumbe University, Tanzania.
Accepted 14 December, 2011
Abstract
In 1935, Sir Alfred Zimmern described IR not as a single field or discipline, but a “bundle of sub-jects…viewed from a common angle” drawn toward questions of international and global continuity and change. However, since its emergence as a “formal separate discipline” of study IR manifests a very little emphasis from the point of view of the Global South realities. Generally, the study of IR has largely neglected the epistemological position of the Global South, its intellectuals and their roles in the continuity and change in the discipline. This paper draws a postcolonial approach to critique, the Eurocentric nature and character of IR discipline and its exclusive emphasis on what happens or happened in the West. The claim is made on how IR as a discipline privileges the Eurocentric world views as an integral to the ordering and functioning of the discipline.
Key words: International relations, euro-centrism, postcolonialism, Global South.