(Re-)Introducing Deleuze: New Readings of Deleuze in International Studies

In: Millennium: journal of international studies, Band 43, Heft 1, S. 124-144

Abstract

Deleuze's legacy in the social sciences in general and in international studies in particular has been predominantly shaped by postmodernist and poststructuralist readings derived largely from American literary criticism. This has led to the proliferation of various Deleuzo-Guattarian terms such as rhizome and war machine, as well as an ill-defined 'Deleuzian approach'. Although productive in their own way, such readings of Deleuze's philosophy obscure a profound and elegant theory (or super-theory) of the world that offers considerable innovations in efforts to explain and understand the complex and integrated world we live in. The article argues for a reading of Deleuze's work committed to his univocal ontology and his metaphysical system of the virtual and the actual. It is argued that this approach addresses some of the most vexing questions of international studies and suggests methodologically sound avenues of further study.