Universiteit Leiden

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The global ordering of authority and diversity

  • Christian Reus-Smit (University of Melbourne)
Date
Tuesday 3 June 2025
Time
Location
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague
Room
2.58

Professor Christian Reus-Smit (University of Melbourne) is one of the most influential theorists of international relations of his generation, with noted work on international order, international society, human rights and diversity. In this seminar, Reus-Smit will discuss the global ordering of political authority and cultural difference over time and space, based on his forthcoming book, the third in a trilogy on this theme. Three Leiden colleagues will provide short commentaries from distinct disciplinary perspectives, followed by open discussion.

The modern ‘liberal’ order

Since the early nineteenth century, the modern ‘liberal’ international order has been structured by successive ‘diversity regimes’—institutionalized norms and practices that define the legitimate units of political authority, authorize forms of cultural identification and expression, and relate these to one another. Across the grand sweep of time, these regimes have shifted from sanctioning empire-states conjoined to racial hierarchies to sovereign states alloyed to human rights norms that proscribe racial inequality and protect individual cultural and religious freedom. The story of this transformation is the focus of the third book in my trilogy on cultural diversity and international order, a revisionist historical sociology of the modern ‘liberal’ order.

Moving between the micro and the macro

This talk focuses on three methodological commitments that inform researching and writing of this study. The first is to adopt a global perspective on the ordering of political authority and cultural difference. To the extent that IR scholars have studied the history of the politico-cultural ordering of the globe, they have focused on what the ‘West’ did to the Rest, using the imposition of the notorious ‘standard of civilization’ as their exemplar. This ignores the fact, however, that for the past two centuries the ‘West’ has itself been wracked by intense struggles over politico-cultural ordering, demanding that these processes be brought into the same analytical frame as those ordering the non-Western world.

The second is to focus on sites and processes of politico-cultural contestation. Conventionally, when IR scholars study norms and practices—the stuff of which diversity regimes are made—they focus on affirming and reproducing social belief, discourse, and practice. It is often the case, however, that salient norms and practices are most starkly revealed in the midst of contestation, when ‘social givens’ set the parameters of politico-cultural debate. Focusing on contestation also brings to the fore a greater plurality of voices, the marginalized as well as the elite.

The final commitment is to the difficult art of moving between the micro and the macro. When IR scholars study the evolution of international orders, they tended to focus either on the history of ideas expressed in the writings of great thinkers (Grotius onward) or on international institutional developments (peace conferences, treaty negotiations, etc.). This ignores, however, the micro sites in which politico-cultural ordering has most significantly played out, often providing the social conditions for macro-level ordering.

These three commitments inform the novel conjunction of empirical cases examined in the book, which brings into the same frame, for example, the Haitian Revolution and plans for the German Confederation at the Congress of Vienna.

Discussants

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