Deck 11: Poststructuralism

Question 1

Poststructuralism takes which view of identity and foreign policy?

A) Performative.
B) Performative and mutually constitutive.
C) Rationalist.
D) Mutually constitutive.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What are the central concepts in poststructuralist philosophy?

A) Discourse, deconstruction, genealogy, and intertextuality.
B) Rational economics.
C) Institutions and cooperation.
D) Discourse, deconstruction, intertextuality.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Why is language central to poststructuralist theory of international relations?

A) Because poststructuralism focuses on local dialects.
B) Because language decides, and communicates reality while also being the medium through which all political actors must legitimate the foreign policies they adopt.
C) Because language solely defines individuals.
D) Because language is the same as discourse.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Poststructuralism views language as…

A) Entirely value-neutral.
B) A system of unstable dichotomies where certain terms are superior to others.
C) Irrelevant to politics.
D) A system of stable dichotomies.

Question 5

According to poststructuralist theory, 'state sovereignty' is…?

A) A historical concept.
B) A value-neutral concept with an immortal essence.
C) A practice that constitutes identity and authority in a particular manner.
D) The most important political actor in an anarchic world system.

Question 6

'Biopower' works at two levels: at the individual level we are told to discipline and control our bodies, and at the collective level we find that governments and other institutions seek to manage whole populations.

Question 7

According to poststructuralism, foreign policies…

A) Constitute the identity of the Self through the construction of its Other(s).
B) Should be based solely on self-interest.
C) Are unimportant to international politics.
D) Will revolve around the importance of human rights.

Question 8

According to the poststructuralist scholar Judith Butler, identity…

A) Is irrelevant.
B) Is central to showing how foreign policy will be formed.
C) Is performative and can only be constituted through repeated practices.
D) Is static and independent of practices and surroundings.

Question 9

According to poststructuralism, 'the global'…

A) Is a political category, which can be used to replace 'the state'.
B) Is of no concern to international politics.
C) Is the most important political category in international politics.
D) Must be engaged in a way that makes possible to rethink all the complex dichotomies around which it revolves.

Question 10

The events of 9/11 and the subsequent so-called 'war on terror' have:

A) Made the poststructuralist concept of territoriality redundant.
B) Challenged the poststructuralist concept of territoriality but not made them entirely redundant.
C) In some ways shown the concept of territoriality to be redundant but in other ways illustrated a 'return' of the concept of territoriality.
D) Made the concept of territoriality more flexible and in some ways precipitated a 'return' of the concept but has also challenged the poststructuralist conception of the term.

Question 11

Poststructuralism entered the field of international politics in the 1980s.

Question 12

Poststructuralism makes a distinction between Foreign Policy and foreign policy.

Question 13

The inside-outside dichotomy is stabilized by which of the following dichotomies?

A) Peace and war.
B) Reason and power.
C) Order and anarchy.
D) All of the given answers are correct.

Question 14

Compared to constructivists, who adopt a concept of causality as structural pressure, poststructuralists hold that causality conceptualized as such is inappropriate because these structures are constituted through human action.

Question 15

Poststructuralism as a theory of international relations is based upon the four concepts of poststructuralist philosophy.