Power of discourse in international relations: Post-structural framework

Abstract

The aim of this paper is discussing the question of “how the reality is produced and maintained” in International Relations (IR) via discourses. As a form of “speech, argument, statement, communication, debate, conversation, written or verbal explanation, expression type and style”, discourse is defined terminologically in various ways. In general framework, it is defined as “the use of language in speech and writing in order to produce meaning”. Discourse is widely used in various research on social sciences, and many additional subjects examined today include discourse analysis as a method in IR discipline. Post-structuralism has entered the discipline of IR in the 1980s through concerning the state’s historical and conceptual production, and its political formation, economic constitution, and social exclusions. As a theory that examines the relations among human beings, the world, creation and reconstruction of the meaning, post-structural practices have been used to examine how the subject of IR is constituted in and through the discourses and text of world politics. In that respect, political discourse is based on specific problem and subjectivity structures, but these problems and subjectivities are formed through discourses. In this context, discourse-based ontology and epistemology in post-structuralist approaches also stand out in the relationship between power and knowledge. Therefore, knowledge becomes crucial for the establishment of the authority. Accordingly, after the elaboration of concept of discourse and discourse analysis, it would be important to understand how post-structural discourse analysis is conceptualized and applied in IR discipline.