The Deficits of Discourse in IPE: Turning Base Metal into Gold?

Abstract

This article engages with the debate on how the role of ideas can be conceptualized within International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) and how this is related to the discursive production of meanings embedded in the economy. It is argued that although constructivist and poststructuralist approaches can conceptualize the structural relevance of ideas, thereby improving on neorealist and liberal institutionalist approaches, they nevertheless fail to explain why certain ideas dominate over others at a particular moment in time. In response to constructivist and poststructuralist criticism, it is argued that the internal relation of ideas as material social processes is appreciated better through an historical materialist theory of history. In other words, the article shows how ideas can be conceived as material social processes through which signs become part of the socially created world in a way that surpasses the deficits of constructivist and poststructuralist approaches alike, whilst avoiding the problems of economism.Following general developments within the social sciences, the conceptualization of the role of ideas in the disciplines of International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) has become increasingly important over recent years. Neorealism and liberal institutionalism generally treat ideas as exogenous to states' interest formation and state interaction. It has been gradually pointed out, however, that such approaches cannot answer important ''questions of which economic theories and beliefs are most likely to shape the definition of interests in international relations and why and how it is that particular sets of ideas prevail in the international arena'' (Woods 1995, 161; see also Jacobsen 2003, 41). A first set of attempts to deal with this problem resulted in an amendment to these approaches by simply adding an additional focus on ideas (e.g.

The case for a foundational materialism: going beyond historical materialist IPE in order to strengthen it

“…An effective response to such criticisms was written by Andreas Bieler and Adam David Morton (2008), who argued that the ideas we hold about the world are not separate from economic 'reality', but are themselves material social processes and thus inextricably bound up with this world. Therefore, the capitalist world order ought to be viewed holistically and not as something that is comprised of a determining economic base over here and relatively unimportant ideas over there.…”

Ordem e poder na economia política global: a contribuição neogramsciana

“…A percepção correta acerca da "estrutura material da ideologia" (GRAMSCI, 2001b, p. 78, Q3 §49) é fundamental para que se perceba como pressões indiretas são capilarizadas na sociedade no processo de construção da hegemonia, sendo possível ver Gramsci como um "teórico do poder capilar" (MORTON, 2007, p. 92). Se a hegemonia é a luta pela subjetividade, ou seja, pela transformação e construção de formas intersubjetivas de consciência no âmbito da sociedade civil, então ela só é alcançada quando o subordinado acredita que a autoridade que existe sobre ele emana do próprio self (BIELER; MORTON, 2008;MOR-TON, 2007).…”

“…Assim, diferentemente do pós-estruturalismo -com destaque para as leituras inspiradas em Foucault -que parte de uma ontologia totalizante na qual "as relações de poder [...] são a fonte constitutiva singular de toda a prática humana" (BRUFF, 2009, p. 341), 2 uma perspectiva (neo)gramsciana parte de uma ontologia social não reducionista e sem garantias finais, que toma como ponto de partida a organização social da produção e os processos de objetificação através dos quais os seres humanos passam a existir socialmente (RUPERT, 1994;BIELER;MORTON, 2008). Isso ocorre porque a "produção cria a base material para todas as formas de existência social" e, além disso, "as formas nas quais os esforços humanos são combinados em processos produtivos afetam todos os demais aspectos da vida social, incluindo a política" (COX, 1987, p. 1).…”

“…Como afirma Stuart Hall (apud BIELER; MORTON, 2008, p. 12), "tudo está na esfera discursiva, mas nada é apenas discurso ou apenas discursivo". Isso não significa que formas de identidade que não se encontrem diretamente relacionadas às questões de classe sejam negligenciadas; na verdade, tais formas de identidade são embasadas nas realidades sociais que estão relacionadas ao processo produtivo (COX, 1987;BIELER;MORTON, 2008;RUPERT, 2003;BAKKER;GILL, 2003).…”

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Role of Computable General Equilibrium Modelling: An Exercise in ‘Managing Fictional Expectations’

“…More specifically, Blyth draws on the work of the economic sociologist Beckert (1996Beckert ( , 1997, who argues that managing and reducing uncertainty are the underlying features of markets. However, the premise of 'fundamental' or 'radical' uncertainty underpinning such work has been criticised for providing insufficient guidance in determining 'why certain ideas matter' (Siles-Brügge 2014: 34-6; see also Bieler andMorton 2008), or, as Beckert (2013a: 222) recently put it, how actors 'interpret the social situation'. In other words, and to use the earlier metaphor, what drives actors to choose one current rather than another when navigating the uncertain waters of the social world?…”