Dialogue and the Reinforcement of Orthodoxy in International Relations

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

We were asked to comment on three questions that make an underlying liberal assumption that dialogue and then synthesis are possible between competing theories and worldviews. Such an assumption is contestable given that a discussion of the possibilities of dialogue and synthesis reflects the metatheoretical commitment that there are enough commonalities between competing theories to constitute points of contact and common reference. The implication is that competing theories refer to a common, and external, world, with each theory having applicability to some parts of that world. But what if one fundamentally disagrees with this assumption and, instead, sees a sharp distinction between the possibilities for dialogue and those for synthesis? Dialogue is possible between competing theories, albeit within certain constraints and with considerable attention paid to the rules governing the dialogue. As for synthesis, the very notion reflects a contested “view from somewhere” about both the nature of international politics...