THE PROJECT OF MODERNITY AND INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS THEORY

This article presents an argument for giving greater consideration to the project of modernity in the study of international relations. It provides a sketch of how this project was initially articulated, in the Enlightenment, and how contemporary thinkers have begun reworking the project of modernity in spite of the so-called 'crisis of modernity'. The article focuses, in particular, on how critical and post-structuralist international theories have contributed to this project. Contrary to common assumptions that these two approaches are incompatible, the article contends that they are best understood as purveyors of the project of modernity.