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A story beyond telos

redeeming the shield of Achilles for a realism of rights in IR

Stephen Chan

pp. 79-98

Abstract

This chapter sets out to tell a story, and to do so in both an archaic and modern way, using primarily the characters and motifs of Homer's Iliad. In a way it is, therefore, an effort loosely in the style of Horkheimer and Adorno's use of Homer's Odyssey, and is meant to be an antidote to the more sterile formats of a formal IR. The point of the story is that, unlike Shapiro and Der Derian's view, a story does not have to embody a telos. The world has stories to tell, and it is the responsibility of IR scholars, not just to deconstruct them for their political animations, but to reinvent them as the basis of solidarities and the imagination implicit in successful dialogue.

Publication details

Published in:

Chan Stephen, Mandaville Peter, Bleiker Roland (2001) The zen of international relations: IR theory from East to West. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 79-98

DOI: 10.1057/9780230286429_5

Full citation:

Chan Stephen (2001) „A story beyond telos: redeeming the shield of Achilles for a realism of rights in IR“, In: S. Chan, P. Mandaville & R. Bleiker (eds.), The zen of international relations, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 79–98.