How to Hold Unjust Structures Responsible in International Relations.

Recent public discourse and political theory center on "structural" approaches of assigning responsibility for injustice in contrast to an "interactional" perspective. The interactional approach corrects discrete harms between agents to return to a just baseline, whereas the structural approach cast...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Studies Quarterly Vol. 65; no. 3; pp. 573 - 582
Main Authors: Srivastava, Swati, Muscott, Lauren
Format: Article
Published: Oxford University Press / USA Sep2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=152353031&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 152353031
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00208833
        ISQ
      jtl: International Studies Quarterly
      issn: 00208833
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Sep2021
      vid: 65
      iid: 3
      pid: 622
      pub: Oxford University Press / USA
    artinfo:
      ui:
        152353031
        10.1093/isq/sqab068
      ppf: 573
      ppct: 9
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            db: hlh
            ui: 152353031
      tig:
        atl: How to Hold Unjust Structures Responsible in International Relations.
      aug:
        au:
          Srivastava, Swati
          Muscott, Lauren
        affil:
          Purdue University, USA
          The Ohio State University, USA
      su:
        International relations
        Political science
        Justice
        Interactional view theory (Communication)
        Unjust enrichment (International law)
      sug:
        subj:
          International relations
          Political science
          Justice
          Interactional view theory (Communication)
          Foreign affairs
          International Affairs
          Unjust enrichment (International law)
      ab: Recent public discourse and political theory center on "structural" approaches of assigning responsibility for injustice in contrast to an "interactional" perspective. The interactional approach corrects discrete harms between agents to return to a just baseline, whereas the structural approach casts a wider net implicating agents in harmful structures for systemic transformation. This theory note advances the understanding of structural responsibility in international relations by defending it against common critiques of underspecification and lack of targeted accountability. We argue that structural arguments are better understood as constituting a framework on the nature of injustice rather than a theory or descriptor of particular harms. We present a "framework, theory, action" heuristic, drawing from constructivism's evolution from a theory (like realism and liberalism) when it first appeared to a framework (like rationalism) more recently. Our framework heuristic makes available a fuller range of conceptual tools to hold unjust structures responsible, including through targeted blame and liability, and discards the need to invent new actions to discharge structural responsibility. Rather than settle on one definition of structural responsibility—what it means, where it is located, and how it is discharged—we direct scholars to the numerous ways structural responsibility may be theorized and enacted.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N