For poststructuralists, language is one of the most crucial elements for the creation and perpetuation of a dominant discourse. Butler argues that thousands of people are lost to conflict in countries such as Palestine and Afghanistan, often at the hands of Western powers, and yet these people are not mourned or memorialised or even heard of within Western reports of war. It held that language is not a transparent medium that connects one directly with a ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ outside it but rather a structure or code, whose parts derive their meaning from their contrast with one another. The term "critical theory" is associated with the Frankfurt School, which developed the twentieth century version of scholarly Marxism. Along with these fatalities, as the media began to report on the abuses that were carried out, the regime of truth that had been centred on the foreign policy directives of the Bush presidency started to falter. The wish to increase security levels across society – in response to crime, irregular migration and terrorist threats – has been presented as a sliding scale whereby if a state wishes to be secure then the public must endure a reduction in personal freedoms. support open access publishing. AFRICA | The importance of the recognition of this discourse is not to attempt to present these political actors -- the terrorists -- in a better light, but to recognise how the consistent and universal portrayal of them as evil and irrational made certain reactions and foreign policy actions more amenable and immediately cut off other methods of responding to these terrorist attacks. Post-structuralism is the literary and philosophical work that both builds upon and rejects ideas within structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. In practice, the dominant discourse of securing the state often works to silence any concerns about enhanced state power. In political economy: International political economy. Poststructuralists always call into question how certain accepted 'facts' and 'beliefs' actually work to reinforce the dominance and power of … By the collapse of the Soviet Union, a bipolar international system was abruptly transformed into an unipolar system. Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below. Moreover, the emotions that the narratives of these actions evoked related back to feelings of love, empathy and altruism that the media utilised to engender further cohesion in society against the ‘other’ of the terrorist. With the passage of time, we are also able to trace the gradual disruption to and destabilising of this regime of truth. The starting point for a post-structural theoretical vision is language and signification. A quick primer on difference between structuralism and post-structuralism. Post-Structuralism in International Relations Theory. In newspaper reports – specifically, in the week after the attacks – the terrorists were presented as evil and irrational, their stated political motivations were effaced and instead terrorists were repeatedly spoken of as crazed and apolitical. Over time, the discursive construction of terrorists by the media was not strong enough to override the concurrent media accounts of large numbers of casualties resulting from the intervention. Butler (2003) builds upon this idea of discourses excluding other possibilities by proposing that certain lives, in certain conflicts or terrorist atrocities, are deemed as more ‘grievable’ than others. If we look to the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 (commonly known as 9/11) we can see these categories of differentiation and their influence begin to manifest themselves. Introducing Postcolonialism in International Relations Theory, Introducing Constructivism in International Relations Theory, Introducing Realism in International Relations Theory, Introducing the English School in International Relations Theory, Introducing Feminism in International Relations Theory. The importance of the recognition of this discourse is not to attempt to present these political actors – the terrorists – in a better light, but to recognise how the consistent and universal portrayal of them as evil and irrational made certain reactions and foreign policy actions more amenable and immediately cut off other methods of responding to  these  terrorist  attacks. Jenny Edkins (2006) uses the example of famines to show that when elite actors refer to famine as a natural disaster, they are removing the event from its political context. With the passage of time, we are also able to trace the gradual disruption to and destabilising of this regime of truth. Structural Realism - International Relations (1/7) - Duration: 9:22. Although great emphasis and focus is placed upon the authority of the elite actors to decide what we count as valid knowledge and assumptions within society, poststructuralism asserts that the way in which this power is achieved is through the manipulation of discourse. FOREIGN POLICY | Hence, this binary opposition enabled Bush to claim that the United States was opposite to all that this trio represented and would be justified in taking various actions during a global campaign against states that were judged to sponsor, or harbour, terrorists. Through language, certain actors, concepts and events are placed in hierarchical pairs, named binary oppositions, whereby one element of the set is favoured over the other in order to create or perpetuate meaning. The impact of poststructuralism within IR theory comes from its ability to not only identify and uncover power relations that dictate political events but also make space for alternative discourses to emerge that can also affect the course of events. While the presentation of terrorists as irrational and evil has found solid ground and the dominant perceptions of terrorism and terrorists are of an illogical and apolitical act and actor, there always will be deviation from this conceptualisation. E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. LATIN AMERICA | Discourses facilitate the process by which certain information comes to be accepted as unquestionable truth. Critical theory seeks to provide analyses that further progressive and egalitarian social goal, structuralism also uses critical theory. Moreover, the emotions that the narratives of these actions evoked related back to feelings of love, empathy and altruism that the media utilised to engender further cohesion in society against the 'other' of the terrorist. As such, the official discourse as crafted by elites never fully accounts for or subsumes the whole of a society. Critics of post-structuralism tend to argue that the world consists of entities, such as objects with various properties and relations between them. Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to This renders poststructuralism openly critical of any theory that claims to be able to identify objective fact – as truth and knowledge are subjective entities that are produced rather than discovered. Therefore, the ways that famines occur as a result of elites taking particular forms of political action, through processes of exploitation or inaction due to profits on increased food prices, are lost when they are presented as unavoidable natural disasters. Personal freedoms -- such as the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly -- have been placed as the limit against which security exists. MIDDLE EAST | Over time, the discursive construction of terrorists by the media was not strong enough to override the concurrent media accounts of large numbers of casualties resulting from the intervention. This viewpoint is underscored by Foucault's (1984, 127) assertion that 'we must not imagine the world turns towards us a legible face which we would only have to decipher'. How we receive information and the way that news events are presented to a society shapes how we conceptualise and react to political events. Instead, post-structuralism is an approach, attitude, or ethos that pursues critique in particular way. An example of this can be found in the security versus liberty debate. The increased use of special forces and drone strikes allowed Obama to continue to exert influence over the region without overtly declaring war – while also distancing his administration from the military intervention that defined that of his predecessor. Through language, certain actors, concepts and events are placed in hierarchical pairs, named binary oppositions, whereby one element of the set is favoured over the other in order to create or perpetuate meaning. Structuralist ideas are rooted in Marxist analysis and focus on how the dominant economic structures of society affect (i.e., exploit) class interests and relations. As the defining global terrorist attack of the twenty-first century, the attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States can be used to convey how dominant discourses, instigated by governmental elites, were perpetuated and reinforced by the media. BUSINESS | EUROPE | Poststructuralism encourages a way of looking at the world that challenges what comes to be accepted as ‘truth’ and ‘knowledge’. These entities exist independently of one’s knowledge of them. A language should be understood as a structure because the individual words gain their meaning due to the existence of the structure. Jenny Edkins (2006) uses the example of famines to show that when elite actors refer to famine as a natural disaster, they are removing the event from its political context. Inexplicable neurosis ’ and ‘ knowledge ’ media to further emphasise the immorality and inhumanity of these actors research.... Truth ’ and ‘ knowledge ’ produced and can be found in the PDF version, linked at top... 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