Cooper, Luke 
ORCID: 0000-0003-2060-1498
(2013)
Can contingency be 'internalized' into the bounds of theory? Critical realism, the philosophy of internal relations and the solution of 'uneven and combined development'.
Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 26 (3).
573 - 597.
ISSN 0955-7571
Abstract
Can general mechanisms governing social life (necessity) and the possibility of multiple outcomes in socio-historical processes (contingency) be incorporated into a single theoretical framework? In recent years, the critical realist philosophy of science has emerged as an intellectual strand within international relations (IR) that makes theoretical claims about necessary social processes while recognizing the irreducible role of contingency. However, critical realist scholars treat contingency as an 'externality', thereby declining to theorize social processes that result in contingent outcomes. Here, it is argued that contingency emerges out of the combination of events and processes as theorized by the law of uneven and combined development. This provides a general conceptualization that treats differentiated historical outcomes, and their contingencies, as inherent to human development. Out of these assumptions a workable approach to historical sociology in IR can be developed-one predicated upon uncovering the form of historical 'combination', the contingent fusion of elements, in international systems.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ccam20 |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 Centre of International Studies |
| Divisions: | LSE |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JZ International relations |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Jul 2024 15:24 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2024 05:47 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124287 |
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