Recognising, and Realising, the Promise of The Aesthetic Turn

Roland Bleiker's iconic and courageous mapping of the aesthetic turn in international political theory called attention to one very basic but up until then unstated maxim: that the 'inevitable difference between the represented and its representation is the very location of politics'....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMillennium Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 206 - 213
Main Author Steele, Brent J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2017
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Aesthetics
Aftermath
Attention
Bravery
Counterterrorism
Mapping
Political philosophy
Political theory
Politics
Power
Representation
Security
Self representation
September 11 terrorist attacks-2001
Terrorism
Urgency
Vulnerability
War
United States > US
security
power
aesthetics
micropolitics
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Summary:Roland Bleiker's iconic and courageous mapping of the aesthetic turn in international political theory called attention to one very basic but up until then unstated maxim: that the 'inevitable difference between the represented and its representation is the very location of politics'. Exactly. Thanks to this insight, the aesthetic turn revealed a kind of vulnerability of states - and of great powers in particular - that had not previously been seen. This 'aesthetic vulnerability' brought to light states' concern with their own representation and self-representation, with the way they 'look' in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. This soft underbelly of power politics acquired particular urgency after 9/11, as the hyper-visuality of the event - and its violent aftermath - so evidently pointed at that 'representational gap'. The 'aesthetic vulnerability' of the united States called attention to its representational practices and, simultaneously, opened political spaces to challenge its policies. However, as the never-ending 'War on Terror' mutates into 'global Trumpism', the limits of this near-exclusive focus on the United States and the West are becoming more evident, demanding consultation of new perspective and new terrains for 'aesthetic' engagements in, and of, critical IR. This essay begins with Roland Bleiker's vitally important assertion and provides three engagements of the aesthetic turn. First, I assess the turn's utility and purchase in especially the 2000s. I argue that the moves to aesthetics in IR theory were productive...
ISSN:0305-8298
1477-9021
DOI:10.1177/0305829816684254