Time and International Relations Theory

In this thesis, I promote the relevance of time to International Relations theory, arguing that the meaning and character of time often taken as given or natural is actually the result of material, historical, and sociopolitical processes, and that ignoring these processes effectively prolongs and empowers them. I develop these themes in the following ways. First, utilizing a temporal lens from social theory, I briefly typologize the theoretical canon. Second, I employ a genealogical history to uncover the coeval rises of Western standard time and territorial state sovereignty. Third, I argue that the dominance of abstract, Western temporality continues virtually unchallenged, implicating IR scholarship in the reproduction of that hegemony. Finally, I address theoretical developments that have the potential to contribute to a greater understanding of time's role in international relations by showing how time is productive of the social subject

Setting the STAGES:Introduction to the Special Issue

For now, this Special Issue is one of a kind. Each piece grows directly out of the cross-institutional network between the University of St Andrews (STA), the University of Glasgow (G), and the University of Edinburgh (E)’s Security studies (S) programmes. Together, we have created the acronym STAGES to capture these ongoing collaborations. In August 2018, we, as a small group of colleagues working at each contributing university started to discuss how our master students can learn more about security beyond the confines of their separate classrooms. As Jorge M. Lasma writes, ‘In many cases, classrooms have slowly come to be seen as the only domains for learning. Other forms and channels of learning and knowledge are viewed with suspicion and sometimes even discouraged for fear of higher costs’ (2013, p. 369). Challenging this idea, we set out to create a collective project to allow different students, with their own unique opinions and viewpoints on security, to meet one another to share their ideas in open, honest and lived ways