Dialectics in International Relations

Dialectical methods, social relations and historical transformation

International Relations often describes states, borders, institutions and systems as the basic objects of world politics. Dialectical analysis asks how these forms are made through social relations and how they change over time. It treats political institutions as historically produced and examines the relations that sustain or transform them.

Dialectics is more than the formula thesis, antithesis and synthesis. In critical social theory, it studies relations, contradictions and mediation. Contradictions can open possibilities for change, but they do not guarantee progress or emancipation; outcomes depend on struggle, agency and historical conditions.

My work brings dialectical thinking into conversation with critical International Relations, Hegel, Marx and wider intellectual traditions. It asks how states, sovereignty, international law, security and global inequality are constituted, reproduced and transformed.