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Weber, M. (2007). The Concept of Solidarity in the Study of

World Politics To!ards a Critical Theoretic "nderstandin#.

$e%ie! of &nternational Studies, ''().

[Honneths aim is] to provide an appropriate grounding for the renewal

of critical social theory, which would operate comprehensively at thelevel of contemporary social and political challenges. []. With

Habermas, and those oriented towards deliberative democratic models

of legitimation, Honneth proceeds from inter-subectivist premises,

leaving behind both the problematic heritage of the philosophy of the

subect, and the associated philosophical and social scienti!c

shortcomings of methodological individualism. However, Honneth

moves beyond the con!nes of the formers lines of in"uiry by e#ploring

an integrated approach to the conditions of the formation of positive

$relations-to-self through intimate, legal and generalised relationships,

mediated through registers beyond merely communicative action,

which has been central to wor% in the conte#t of the $linguistic turn.

&he latter orientation has given rise to misapprehensions of the depth

and scope of the inter-subectivist turn in critical theory, not least in

the conte#t of the advances of the constructivist research proect in '(.

)*+

Weber, M. (200). Critical Theory and Conte*porary World

Politics. &nternational Studies $e%ie!, 2(').

['(& has had a considerable in/uence on '(] &he recent entrenchment

of constructivism0pace its heterogeneity0as a central disciplinary

research framewor% is, viewed in this conte#t, in the broadest sense an

indication of ust how sustained a challenge $$re/ectivism turned out

to be for the main contenders in what has sometimes been called the

inter-paradigm debate. &o some e#tent, this perhaps une#pected

e1cacy can be understood better, when the formative moves of

constructivisms arrival are ta%en into account. ritical theoretic

scholarship, then, performed the prominent function of %eeping '( as a

disciplinary conversation in touch with philosophical, theoretical, andmethodological debates in cogent disciplines. )222