Theories Of International Relations 2 Dersi 4. Ünite Sorularla Öğrenelim

IR scholars accept that International Relations (IR) discipline is shaped by two dimensions: The first one is positivist/rational dimension that covers main stream theories of (neo)/realism and (neo)/ liberalism which take their sources from the nature through observation and by testing this information. The second dimension includes critical, reflectivist, post-positivist and post-structural theories that critically stand against positivist/rational theories on the basis of their arguments excluding subjective and interpretivist knowledge. 

The modern concept has always been used to express the transition from old to new since the 5th century. From the moment modernism moved from the idea of God-centered to human-centered thinking, its sole purpose has been to defeat nature and to achieve a better and more beautiful life.

Colonialism, as Europeans originally used the term signified not ruling over indigenous people or the extraction of their wealth, but primarily the transfer of communities who sought to maintain their own original culture, while seeking a better life in economic, religious or political terms.

According to Marxist thinking, while earlier colonialism adopts a non-capitalist figuration, modern colonialism was in existence alongside capitalism in Europe. Modern colonialism not only gained more than goods and wealth from the countries that restructured the economies with the flow of human and natural resources between colonized and colonial countries. It replaced both colonized and colonizer.

Colonialism and imperialism are often used interchangeably. Both colonialism and imperialism mean political and economic domination of Western states over the underdeveloped states. The term colony comes from the Latin word “colonus”, meaning farmer. This root reminds us that the practice of colonialism usually involved the transfer of population to a new territory, where the arrivals lived as permanent settlers while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin.

Both colonialism and imperialism mean political and economic domination of Western states over the underdeveloped states. The term colony comes from the Latin word “colonus”, meaning farmer. This root reminds us that the practice of colonialism usually involved the transfer of population to a new territory, where the arrivals lived as permanent settlers while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin. Imperialism, on the other hand, comes from the Latin term “imperium”, meaning to command. Thus, the term imperialism draws attention to the way that one country exercises power over another, whether through settlement, sovereignty, or indirect mechanisms of control.”

Orientalism is the term used by Edward Said by examining some assesments of the attitudes and perspectives of the Western scholars or Orientalists to legitimize colonial aggression towards intellectually marginalized and dominated Eastern peoples. Orientalists see themselves as the center of the world and the other is periphery: The center is also privileged in history of sciences, arts, and cultures, while the periphery is marginalized in this context.

Decolonization is a technical concept containing economic, social and political arguments in modern history. Also, it is one of the most dramatic process structuring the principles of the world world order. The term “decolonization” emerged by using anti-colonial ideology and by hampering colonial power.

Post-colonial theory is a post-modernist/post-positivist /reflectivist/critical theory in international relations theory. This theory posits a critical thinking toward modern and colonial/ imperial world. It urges to offer an alternative to the Eurocentric stance and notions of Western domination by challenging “western ideas” in all areas namely literature, history, linguistic, identity, gender.

Frantz Fanon

Fanon’s thought is characterized by three aspects. First, he proposes a radical anti- imperialist theory, which emphasizes the central significance of ‘race’ in the context of colonial oppression; race is not a contingent determination that could be subsumed under the general category of class, but is a distinctive and autonomous form of social, economic and political inequality. Second, Fanon stresses the significance of the revolutionary act as also a psychological and intellectual transformation, which must accompany material transformation, or the socialist reorganization of production. Third, Fanon argues for individual freedom as an essential component of a socialist synthesis that should guarantee democratic participation in the construction of socialism

The first part of the criticism is related to the title of post-colonialism. The critique mentioned the word “post” and what it denotes after colonialism and what happened in the World. The question is, whether colonialism was really over. 

What are the similarities between decolonization, neo-colonialism and post-colonialism

Post-colonialism and neo-colonialism both deal with the period after decolonization. They both show the socio-cultural aspects of the need to spread hegemony of the powerful nations over the developing nations. Neo- colonialism has argued to transform order and socio-political alterations into the colonies against colonizer. The term “neo-colonialism” was used by the Ghanaian politician Khame Nkrumah. The term “post-colonialism” was used by Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak.

What are the differences between decolonization, neo-colonialism and post-colonialism?

Post-colonialism is the theoretical approach which is concerned with the political and/or the social condition of the former colonies. Neo-colonialism is the policy of the developed countries against the use of economic and social influence to spread hegemony to previous colonies in spite of giving national independence. Post-colonialism deals with the theories of decolonization such as othering, gender, equality, racism, hierarchy. On the other hand, neo-colonialism deals with the theories of capitalism which are accepted as cultural and economic imperialism.

He advocates that the pseudo-humanism that is actually the colonialist has got a fake understanding of humanity. Pseudo-humanism makes the colonialist uncivilized and brutal. Cesaire uses the concept of Negro frequently in his work and being black he argued that they need simply awareness and this reality was identified by him to accept the fate of black, history and culture.

Bhabha suggests that colonial authority is necessarily rendered ‘hybrid’ and ‘ambivalent’ when it is imitated or reproduced, thus opening up spaces for the colonized to subvert the master- discourse.

The most important part where Bhabha is different from Said and Spivak is that he considers the colonial phenomenon as an opportunity for cultural exchange, and, unlike Spivak, subaltern can actually speak for themselves and this speech emerges as a mimicry and is hybrid.

 What does hybridity mean?

Hybridity is the most natural consequence of worldly practice. It should be considered among cultures and especially between colonial cultures and indigenous identities.

Mimicry is a process and experience and in fact there is reproduction and development of oneself over its center.

Sati tradition (also called suttee) is the practice among some Hindu communities by which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force or coercion commits suicide as a result of her husband’s death. The best-known form of sati is when a woman burns to death on her husband’s funeral pyre. However other forms of sati exist, including being buried alive with the husband’s corpse and drowning.