A. O’Loughlin 
Overcoming Poststructuralism 
Rawls, Kratochwil and the Structure of Normative Reasoning in International Relations

Through the use of a poststructuralist perspective, Antony O’Loughlin challenges the most basic tenets of International Relations Theory and deploys Rawlsian ideas of public reason in conjunction with Kratochwil’s conceptions of practical reason in order to put forward a theory that overcomes the challenges posed by poststructuralism.

Table of Content

1. Introduction: The ‘Enormous Creative Potential of Practical Reason’ PART I: THE CHALLENGE – POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND IR’S RESPONSE 2. Inside/Outside: Walker, Ashley, and the Poststructuralist Critique of IR 3. Overcoming the Poststructuralist Critique? Ontology and Epistemology in the Constructivist Theories of Wendt and Kratochwil 4. Constitutive Political Theory: Mervyn Frost and the Role of Norms in International Political Theory PART II: THE SOLUTION – CONSTRUCTING NORMATIVE REASON 5. Beyond Coherence: Rawls’s Conception of Public Reason 6. Contemporary Moral Foundationalism: Buchanan’s Conception of Normative Reasoning and the Role of Institutions in Political Justification 7. Philosophical Constructivism and Critical Constructivism Combined: Kratochwil’s Account of the Conditions of Practical Reasoning and the Rawlsian Conception of Public Reason 8. The Concept of the Reasonable in International Political Justification: A Rejoinder to the Poststructualist Critique 9. Conclusion. Overcoming Poststructuralism

About the author

Antony O’Loughlin, Solicitor, Mishcon de Reya, UK.