Overview

* How are states made possible, constructed in theory and practice, and what alternative possibilities are given up by conferring legitimacy on states? * How do 'reasons of state' appropriate and inform discourses of sovereignty, territoriality, historiography, diplomacy, security and community? * How can we employ language to challenge the problematic logics of international relations and imagine alternative ways of being with and relating to others? States of Political Discourse addresses these questions through a series of highly original and provocative essays that engage a range of political conditions and practices, exploring areas that are conventionally neglected. Topics include the language of normal and pathological states in Freudian psychoanalysis, the mythography of Europe, the political reification of the Himalayan region, the spirituality of cosmopolitanism, the status of the Knights of St John, and the literary exploration of diplomacy and security.

Full Product Details

9780415429597

Table of Contents

Reviews

'The book is dense, and its analysis intense. Intellectually challenging claims are backed with meticulous research and philosophical rigour. It heralds new possiblities for research and analyses by intergrating overlooked methods and themes and by questioning the accuracy/paradoxes of widespread hellenogenic imports.' - Millenium Review 'Constantinou makes some serious claims and unsettling challenges to IR and politics.' - Dr Garen Karapetyan, Independent Scholar.

'The book is dense, and its analysis intense. Intellectually challenging claims are backed with meticulous research and philosophical rigour. It heralds new possiblities for research and analyses by intergrating overlooked methods and themes and by questioning the accuracy/paradoxes of widespread hellenogenic imports.' - Millenium Review 'Constantinou makes some serious claims and unsettling challenges to IR and politics.' - Dr Garen Karapetyan, Independent Scholar.

Author Information

Costas M. Constantinou is senior lecturer in international relations at Keele University, UK. His research interests include global politics and culture, diplomacy, and the history of social and political thought. Dr Constantinou is also the author of On the Way to Diplomacy.

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