C08(a) - Informal International Relations (IIRs)
Date: Jun 3 | Time: 08:45am to 10:15am | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Joanna Quinn (King's University College)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Yolande Bouka (Queen's University)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Joanna Quinn (King's University College)
Session Abstract: What kind of insights will International Relations (IR) scholars gain if they explicitly prioritize the study of informal dimensions of international relations? The panel brings together diverse scholars to shed light on this question. The papers show that prioritizing the study of informal aspects of international relations and approaching it in systematic way will not only add a new and rich body of knowledge to the field of IR, it can also help the discipline to become more inclusive. The papers collectively demonstrate that unofficial international rules, practices, norms, and decision-making structures are ubiquitous in the world today and IR scholars risk missing many of the most important incentives and constraints that underlie international life if they fail to systematize and prioritize the study of informal international relations (IIRs) or continue the current practice of burying insights from IIRs beneath the discourses on and the study of formal international organizations, institutions, norms, global governance, and Non-governmental organizations.
Informal International Relations and the Global IR Movement: A Research Agenda: Thomas Tieku (King's University College)
Abstract: This paper provides a conceptual framework and outlines a research agenda for studying informal dimensions of international relations. It argues, first, that the concept of IIR offers a useful framework for studying the informal aspects of international relations, second, that a focus on IIR directs attention of researchers to areas such as clientelist networks of international life which extant IR approaches are unable, and in some cases unwilling, to investigate, third, studying IR from the IIR perspective will open up the space for fruitful dialogue between IR scholars and comparative political scientists who are exploring informal politics at the domestic level and, finally, examining international relations from the vantage point of IIR will make the IR field more inclusive as it will provide tools and discourses to capture nuances of international politics of societies in the Global South and Eastern Europe where numerous studies show informality shape even more strongly political behavior and outcomes.
So Call Me a State, Maybe? Theorizing International State Recognition: Megan Payler (University of Western Ontario)
Abstract: International state recognition is a foundational yet often neglected component of the study of international relations and comparative politics. In the existing literature, the concept has been primarily theorized using formal legal conceptualizations of statehood, understood broadly as both the structural conditions of states (declarative statehood) and as a sociopolitical and relative process in which a state’s legitimacy is granted by other states (constitutive statehood). In this paper I contend that existing approaches remain disjointed, often suffering from limited theoretical grounding and empirical application and do not fully reflect the nuance and diversity of the concept. I argue that incorporating informal components of recognition, such as unofficial rules, processes and practices, is a necessary step towards a more robust theoretical and empirical understanding. I thus aim to make two contributions to existing scholarship. First, I offer a synthesized conceptualization of international state recognition which identifies the gradational nature of the concept and, in turn, more accurately reflects the heterogeneity of states and state-like entities that operate within the international system. Second, I underscore the importance of informal mechanisms in facilitating processes of international state recognition.
Black Internationalism as Erased IR: Locating Gender and Race in American Foreign Policy: Nadège Compaoré (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Pan-Africanism tends to be viewed as merely a political ideology that speaks to Black resistance and self-determination globally, with much of the literature on the topic emanating from African studies and Black Studies, without systematically linking such debates to International Relations (IR) scholarship. Moreover, dominant narratives of pan-Africanism have mostly highlighted the role of male leaders such as W. E. Dubois, while largely erasing key female contributions who have thus been doubly erased from existing discourses. This paper argues that this erasure is due to the fact that pan-Africanist female leaders have mainly operated via informal and unofficial channels, the significance of which has remained understated and undertheorized in IR literature. By retracing the intellectual and political leadership of pan-Africanist pioneer Ida Gibbs Hunt (1862-1957) as an empirical point of departure, the paper uses a critical epistemology anchored within informal processes of IR and informed by Black feminist thought, to examine the erasure of race and gender dimensions within key narratives of American foreign policy. The paper speaks to key dynamics between Black internationalism and American foreign policy, particularly around three policy priorities promoted by pan-Africanist leaders, namely: (1) decolonization, (2) Black diplomatic representation, and (3) disarmament.
Dis)Trust and African Collective Action: Exploring the Informal Dynamics of Trust and Their Implications for the African Union : Alice Musabende (University of Cambridge)
Abstract: The last 17 years have seen an increased debate and scholarship on the Africa Union. Many of the discussions have focused on ‘Pan-African’ identity (however debatable) (Murithi, 2018), AU’s finances (Kagame, 2017), and the capacity of the AU to address the multitudes of political challenges on the African continent (Tieku, 2019). Almost all the existing scholarship and discussions on the AU point to an endemic deficit of trust in the organization yet this question of trust is rarely discussed, let alone, theorized. This paper therefore seeks to open up a conversation on the issue of trust in the AU by positioning it not only as a critical element in the ways in which organizations such as the AU execute their tasks, but also as a form of political informality which shapes norms and expectations between actors. The paper shows that the task of theorizing processes of trust-building in the context of the African Union is particularly complicated by the persistently blurred lines between interpersonal trust – trust in specific individual elites – and institutional trust.