Global International Relations and Worlding Beyond the West: A Pedagogical Critique

Abstract

Abstract This paper addresses the pedagogical implications of the “Global International Relations (GIR)” and “Worlding Beyond the West” agendas. These two programs have criticized IR’s Western-centrism and offered systematic ways to expand beyond IR’s Euro-Atlantic roots. Their development coincides with other high-profile theoretical and historiographic developments, not to mention societal imperatives, to expand the substantive remit of the discipline. However, the diversification agenda has been mostly concerned with the research output of IR and has treated the pedagogical side of IR’s intellectual life as a secondary consideration. Proponents of the GIR and Worlding agendas have yet to convert these programs into a classroom pedagogy. This paper fills that gap. It critiques the practical and intellectual limits of GIR and Worlding pedagogies. More importantly, it provides theoretically informed ways to transpose their diversification projects into the undergraduate classroom. In doing so, this paper bridges disciplinary analysis, IR theory, and IR pedagogy in an integrated analysis of IR’s much-needed attempts at diversification.