Justice, Community and Dialogue in International Relations

Shapcott investigates the question of justice in a culturally diverse world, asking if it is possible to conceive of a universal or cosmopolitan community in which justice to difference is achieved. Justice to difference is possible, according to Shapcott, by recognising the particular manner in which different humans identify themselves. Such recognition is most successfully accomplished through acts of communication, and in particular, conversation. The accounts of understanding developed by H. G. Gadamer provide a valuable way forward in this field. The philosophical hermeneutic account of conversation allows for the development of a level of cosmopolitan solidarity that is both 'thin' and universal, and which helps to provide a more just resolution of the tension between the values of community and difference. Students and scholars of international relations, international ethics and philosophy will be interested in this original study.

Introduction; 1. Beyond the cosmopolitan/communitarian divide; 2. Communication and community in interpretative theories of international relations; 3. Emancipation and legislation: the boundaries of conversation in poststructuralism and the critical theory of IR; 4. Philosophical hermeneutics: understanding, practical reasoning and human solidarity; 5. Philosophical hermeneutics and its critics; 6. Towards a thin cosmopolitanism.

Shapcott considers the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. Conversation, and our ability to understand each other despite differences, provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitan, moral community. Students and scholars of international relations, politics and philosophy will be interested in this original study.