Reassembling International Theory: Assemblage Thinking and International Relations

What can 'assemblage thinking' contribute to international theory?

Assemblages have been invoked in several disciplines to make sense of the heterogeneity of the elements of society and the ways in which these are politically intertwined. Can parallel developments be prompted in IR?

Reassembling International Theory investigates how the contemporary debates on assemblages in social theory can contribute to generating critical considerations on the connections and dissociation of political agency, physical world and international dynamics. It draws on a variety of international relations experiences and on conversations with key 'assemblage' theorists to tease out the theoretical and methodological implications, ontological and material dynamics, as well as the politics of assemblage thinking.

Including contributions from Rita Abrahamsen, Roland Bleiker, Antoine Bousquet, Christian Bueger, David Chandler, Stephen Collier, Olaf Corry, Xavier Guillaume, Graham Harman, Debbie Lisle, Maximilian Mayer, Aihwa Ong, Mark Salter, Saskia Sassen, Peer Schouten, Nick Srnicek and Michael Williams, this text will appeal to scholars in International Relations, Political Sociology and Human Geography.

What can 'assemblage' thinking contribute to the study of international relations theory? This study seeks to investigate how the various debates on assemblages in social theory can contribute to generating critical considerations on the connections and dissociation of political agency, physical world and international dynamics.

Michele Acuto is Senior Lecturer in Global Networks and Diplomacy in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London, UK.Simon Curtis is Lecturer in International Politics at the University of East Anglia, UK.

1. Assemblage thinking and International Relations; Michele Acuto and Simon Curtis

PART 1: THEORIES

2. Conversation with Saskia Sassen and Aihwa Ong

3. Conversation with Michael Williams and Rita Abrahmsen

4. Conversation with Stephen Collier

PART 2: ONTOLOGIES OF ASSEMBLAGE

5. Cognitive assemblages and the production of knowledge; Nick Srnicek

6. Global assemblages and structural models of international relations; Olaf Corry

PART 3: METHODS OF ASSEMBLAGE

7. Thinking Assemblage Methodologically: Some rules of thumb; Christian Bueger

8. Energising the International; Debbie Lisle

9. Visual Assemblages: From Causality to Conditions of Possibility; Roland Bleiker

PART 3  - MATERIALITIES OF ASSEMBLAGE

10. Security in action: how John Dewey can help us follow the production of security assemblages; Peer Schouten

11. Welcome to the Machine: Rethinking Technology through Assemblage Theory; Antoine Bousquet

PART 4: POLITICS OF ASSEMBLAGE

12. The onto-politics of assemblage; David Chandler

13. Agencement and Traces: A Politics of Ephemeral Theorizing; Xavier Guillaume

14. The Assemblage and the Intellectual as Hero; Mark Salter

Conclusions: Assemblage Theory and its Future; Graham Harman