Pessimism in International Relations: Provocations, Possibilities, Politics

Description

This volume explores the past, present and future of pessimism in International Relations. It seeks to differentiate pessimism from cynicism and fatalism and assess its possibilities as a respectable perspective on national and international politics. The book traces the origins of pessimism in political thought from antiquity through to the present day, illuminating its role in key schools of International Relations and in the work of important international political theorists. The authors analyse the resurgence of pessimism in contemporary politics, such as in the new populism, attitudes to migration, indigenous politics, and the Anthropocene. This edited volume provides the first collection of scholarly work on pessimism in International Relations theory and practice and offers fresh perspectives on an intellectual position often considered as disreputable as it is venerable. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: The Problems of Pessimism (Tim Stevens, Nicholas Michelsen)....Pages 1-10 Front Matter ....Pages 11-11 Pessimism in International Relations (Richard Ned Lebow)....Pages 13-36 The Romance of Realism: Pessimism as Tragedy (Ronnie Hjorth)....Pages 37-52 Cassirer, Fatalism and Political Myth: Historical Lessons in the Consequences of Pessimism for International Relations (Mark Bailey)....Pages 53-66 Liberal Pessimism: An Intellectual History of Suspicion in the Cold War (Dillon Stone Tatum)....Pages 67-81 Productive Pessimism: Rehabilitating John Herz’s Survival Research for the Anthropocene (Tim Stevens)....Pages 83-98 Front Matter ....Pages 99-99 The Global Politics of Ugly Feelings: Pessimism and Resentment in a Mimetic World (Elisabetta Brighi)....Pages 101-117 Pessimism and the Alt-Right: Knowledge, Power, Race and Time (Nicholas Michelsen, Pablo de Orellana)....Pages 119-136 The Pessimism of the Shipwreck: Theorising Μigration in International Relations (Myriam Fotou)....Pages 137-153 The Pessimism Traps of Indigenous Resurgence (Sheryl R. Lightfoot)....Pages 155-172 After Pessimism? Affirmative Approaches to the Anthropocene (David Chandler)....Pages 173-190 Afterword: The New Pessimism in Twenty-First-Century World Politics (Philip G. Cerny)....Pages 191-203 Back Matter ....Pages 205-215