Beyond IR? Relationality, complementarity and entangled systems : response to Shih Chih-yu, ‘The mission of relational IR and the translation of the Chinese relational school’

Abstract

This contribution revisits Shih's mission of relational IR and the Chinese relational school from the perspective of the parallel between quantum physics and ancient Asian philosophies, such as Buddhism and Daoism, asking questions about the significance of relational IR as a contradiction or complementarity, the nature of relational systems, and the role of conversation and translation in an unfolding world. It concludes with a reflection on time, memory and emotion as it relates to a past of empire.