Arendt and International Politics: Readings Across the Lines

Hannah Arendt's approach to politics focuses on action and conduct, rather than institutions, constitutions, and states. Thus, Arendt's work offers a novel and interesting alternative to the ways in which agency and structure are understood in international relations. In light of Arendtian conceptions of politics, essays in this book challenge conventional IR theories. The contributions on agency explore concepts and categories of political action that enable individuals to act politically and to re-make the world in new, unpredictable ways. The contributions on structure explore how Arendt provides new critical purchase upon often reified structures and categories.