The construction of "hegemony" in selected nuclear nonproliferation "regime" literature
Date
1991
Authors
Sutherland, Johanna
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Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University
Abstract
This thesis analyses several articles by Professor Joseph Nye Jr. and one by doctoral
candidate Roger Smith. Those articles analyse international and domestic nuclear arms
control and disarmament policies within the framework of 'regime theory'. The thesis
uses a methodology derived eclectically from various postmodern and postructural
analysts, and in particular adapts ideas from Derrida and Foucault.
The thesis argues that Nye and Smith's work exemplify western 'security' discourse
which has a narrative structure that is super-power centric, and in particular U.S.- centric,
as is now common in mainstream international relations journals. They tend to reproduce
a particular discursive formation: that of a constructed U.S. dominance, or hegemony,
regarding the formation (Nye), boundaries and elements (Nye and Smith), and
maintenance (Nye and Smith) of the nuclear nonproliferation 'regime' (hereafter NNPR).
The role of 'learning' within regime theory is also 'critically' reviewed.
The thesis challenges this discourse by identifying the hierarchical oppositions on which
it relies, the rhetorical devices which ground the argument, and the contradictions within
the texts which undermine their conclusions. The meanings attributed to terms and their
reflection of ideological and conceptual values are also examined to show how they
'ground' the text to a coherent meaning or conceptual hierarchy.
The sub-thesis concludes with a brief prospective assessment of the regime. It suggests
that although Nye's and Smith's liberal 'regime' theory is correct in identifying the
potential feedback effect of 'regimes' on domestic state politics and international social
movements, these dynamics do not yet occupy their proper place in their work. The
extent to which current developments within the regime accord with theoretical
expectations is also examined and doubts are raised about the role and effect of learning
and of hegemonic decline.
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Thesis (Masters sub-thesis)
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