Pluralism in International Relations and the Prospect for Non-Western IR Theory

International Relations as an academic discipline, originating from the West, has been influenced by Western traditions of thought and this has led to its Eurocentric nature reproduced through specific closures and strict standards of theorizing. Since the last part of the twentieth century, however, this has been challenged. The emergence of reflectivist theories with their broad definition of theory, the expansion of international agenda due to significance of new international issues, and the agency of non-Western international actors have somehow broken the meta-theoretical and theoretical boundaries of IR. The result has been pluralism and the coexistence of approaches and theories. The main argument of this article is that this pluralism paves the way for non-Western IR scholars to produce their own theories and narrative of international relations.