Summary Synthesis
In this paper, the author aims “to offer a more compelling understanding of the foundations of new international relations theory” (Vitalis 911). He seeks to do this not merely from the perspectives of historical sociology and international law but also regarding the racial anthropology and racial biology in the American historical context. He argues that there is a problem in the way social and political scientists understand the place of race and how the early scientists of these centuries construed or thought about it. He considers it an error for modern scientists to examine the works of early scientists to be the real theoretical or scientific core of international relations. He also examines the early American laws of race development and the great American science of imperial ties. According to him, the birth of the present-day international relations theory and discipline is the works of early scholars like David Long and George Cornewall Lewis, the latter of whom founded the American Political Science Association (APSA).
Analysis
Vitalis uses an ideologically charged language in this paper to challenge the notion of the current understanding of the role of race relations and imperialism in the development of political science and international relations. He mentions other early scholars and scientists like Charles Darwin and how their work on human evolution helped shape the race war or race relations and imperialism in Britain and America. He also cites sources from the works written by political scientists of the early centuries who helped in defining the present-day international relations theory. He explores the lives of early political scientists such as WEB Du Bois, Franklin Giddings, Reinsch, and Burges. He has explained how their early works on political science and the papers they wrote have helped in shaping the contemporary understanding of political science and racial relations in America. He provides evidence and reasoning for his claims by citing the several works in political science that these authors wrote and how they have contributed to our understanding of politics and race.
Further Analysis
The purpose and function of these devices used by the author are to convince the audience that the point he is trying to make is more valid than the proposition of social scientists in the IR field. He wants to show that racial relations, sociology, and colonial imperialism all led to the birth of modern version of political scientists. However, these devices do not limit the audience more precisely since the author does not see to appeal to any particular or specific audience in his work. However, they serve to persuade the reader that the author’s point of view is the correct one. For, instance, on the development of racial laws, the author argues that these laws were rooted naturally in the biological works of scholars like Charles Darwin, who convinced American Whites that they were the supreme race over other races. It is the development of international relations law that made it possible to stem the White supremacist idea created by the Darwin evolutionary theories. Social evolution led to the creation of social classes and hierarchies in the American society which in turn led to the race factor.
Critique
Commentary
We can expand on the author’s contention in this article by using it as a foundation for explaining how race relations in America have developed and how we can bring about positive relations among races. Further, Vitalis’s work points to the role that social and political scientists play in the international relations field hence it can be used to do more research on the relations among states shortly.
Works Cited
Vitalis, Robert. "The noble American science of imperial relations and its laws of race development." Comparative Studies in Society and History 52.4 (2010): 909-938. Print.
