Beyond Dichotomies: A Reflexive Engagement of Critical Reflexivity

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Date

2005-05

Authors

Hendershot, Chris

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Publisher

YCISS

Abstract

The purpose of the following paper is to critically engage Mark Neufeld’s claim, “it is only by exposing the limitations of positivism that a space can be created for alternative forms of theorizing about international politics.” My engagement of this statement involves three related assertions. Firstly, I contend that one can construct an effective argument that reaffirms – and indeed is inflected with – postpositivist assertions that exposing the ‘limitations of positivism’ will create the necessary space for ‘alternative forms of theorizing’. However, I also argue that Neufeld’s construction of theoretical reflexivity explicitly/implicitly works to (re)ontologize a dichotomous relationship between positivist and post-positivist approaches to International Relations. Hence, I challenge the potential to which Neufeld’s conceptions can work as space clearing exercises so long as such exercises proceed through a dichotomized framing process.

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Keywords

positivism, Mark Neufeld, theoretical reflexivity

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