Critical International Theory in Historical Mode

This chapter recovers a neglected, namely, historical mode of theorizing in an effort to reorient critical international theory. As critical international theories have become more meta-theoretical and abstract, they have lost touch with history. The chapter reconsiders R. W. Cox’s writings—in particular his abiding engagement with historicism and realism—as a means of retrieving critical intellectual resources outside of German idealism and historical materialism. The chapter then uses revisionist histories of the Enlightenment to help reorient critical international theory around historically grounded rather than philosophically grounded forms of criticism. Intellectual resources for this end are recovered from early modern European thought—particularly the historicizing and secularizing political theories of Renaissance humanism and Absolutist historiography. The final section explores the thought of Giambattista Vico, one of Cox’s professed influences, for its ‘Enlightened’ emphasis on humanist pedagogy and its historicist attention to changing forms of civil institutions.