Professor Colin Wight

BACKGROUND

Colin Wight’s research interests originate in the desire to explore and understand the fragmented nature of International Relations Theory and to embed this understanding in wider intellectual and public debates. Although primarily interested in theory all his work is constructed around the desire to understand, and show, how theoretical work impacts on empirical research; the Political Studies piece on ‘The Agent-Structure Problem and Institutional Racism’ being a good example of this. His Cambridge University Press book, Agents Structures and International Relations, examines the manner in which differing theories conceptualise the key units of analysis that are claimed to contribute to the processes of International Relations, and attempts to show how these understandings play a role in substantive empirical research and the practice of international politics. He is also interested in all aspects of political violence and is currently completeing a book on Terrorism, Violence and the State. He moved to Sydney in January 2001, having previously worked at Exter, Sheffield and Aberystwyth. He is currently the Editor in Chief of the European Journal of International Relations. He is keen to supervise PhD students on any aspect of International Relations.

RESEARCH

Research Interests

• International Relations
• International Relations Theory
• The Philosophy of Social Science
• Political Theory
• Terrorism and Political Violence

TEACHING

Current Courses

• GOVT6137 - Forces of Change in Int Relations
• GOVT6148 - Dissertation Part 1
• GOVT6149 - Dissertation Part 2
• GOVT6340 - Dissertation Part 1
• GOVT6341 - Dissertation Part 2

PUBLICATIONS

Books Authored and Edited

Wight, C (forthcoming), Terrorism, Violence and the State.

Wight, C (forthcoming), Explaining Fragmentation in International Relations Theory.

Joseph, J & Wight, C (eds) 2010, Scientific Realism in International Relations, Routledge

Wight, C 2006, Agents and Structures in International Relations Theory: Politics as Ontology, Cambridge University Press.

Dean, K, Joseph, J & Wight, C 2006, Realism and Social Science, Palgrave.

Kapferer, N, Williams, H & Wight, C 2000, Political Thought and German Reunification, Macmillan.

Refereed Journal Articles

Wight, C 2011, "Theorising Terrorism Part II: A Reply to a Dani Nedal", International Relations, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 267-271.

Wight, C 2008, "Living with Hume's Problem: Reply to Patrick Jackson", Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 357-360.

Wight, C 2007, "A response to Friedrich Kratochwil: why shooting the messenger does not make the bad news go away!", Journal of International Relations and Development, vol. 10, no. 3.

Wight, C 2007, "Inside the epistemological cave all bets are off", Journal of International Relations and Development, vol. 10, no. 1.

Wight, C 2007, "A Manifesto for Scientific Realism in IR: Assuming the Can-Opener Won’t Work!", Millennium, vol. 39, no. 2.

Wight, C 2004, "State Agency: Social Action without Human Activity", Review of International Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 269-280.

Wight, C 2004, "Theorising the Mechanisms of Semiotic and Conceptual Space", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 383-299.

Wight, C 2003, "The Agent-Structure Problem and Institutional Racism", Political Studies, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 706-721.

Wight, C 2001, "The Continuity of Change, or a Change in Continuity", International Studies Review, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 81-90.

Wight, C 2000, "Interpretation all the way down? A Reply to Roxanne Lynn Doty", European Journal of International Relations, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 423-430.

Patomaki, H & Wight, C 2000, "After PostPositivism: The Promise of Critical Realism", International Studies Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 213-237.

Wight, C 1999, "MetaCampbell: The Epistemological Problematics of Perspectivism", Review of International Studies, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 311-316.

Wight, C 1999, "They Shoot Dead Horses Don't They? Locating Agency in the Agent-Structure Problematique", European Journal of International Relations, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 109-142.

Wight, C 1998, "Philosophical Geographies: Navigating Philosophy in Social Science", The Philosophy of Social Sciences, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 552-566.

Wight, C 1996, "Incommensurability and Cross Paradigm Communication in International Relations Theory: What's the Frequency Kenneth?", Millennium, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 291-319.

Bishop, C, Wight, C & Williams, H 1996, "German (Re)Unification: Habermas and his Critics", German Politics, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 214-239.

Non Refereed Journal Articles

Wight, C 1998, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: On Being a Critical Realist in the Academy", Alethia, International Journal of Critical Realism, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 23-26.

Book Chapters

Wight, C 2011, "The Philosophy of Social Science and International Relations", in W Carlsnaes, T Risse & B Simmons (eds), Handbook of International Relations, 2nd edition, Sage, London.

Kurki, M & Wight, C 2007, "International Relations and Social Science", in T Dunne, M Kurki, & S Smith (eds) International Relations Theory: Discipline and Diversity, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Wight, C 2005, "The Agent-Structure Problem", in M Griffiths (ed), Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics, Routledge, London.

Wight, C 2002, "The Philosophy of Social Science and International Relations", in W Carlsnaes, T Risse & B Simmons (eds), Handbook of International Relations, Sage, London.

Wight, C 2002, "Sleeping with the Anti-Christ: Reading Derrida as a Critical Realist", in J Joseph (ed), Deconstruction and Critical Realism, Routeledge, London.

Wight, C 2002, "The Role of Theory", in A Bond (ed), Writing Your Master’s Thesis, Studymates, Plymouth.

Wight, C & Williams, H 2000, "Introduction", in C Wight, H Williams & N Kapferer (eds), Political Thought and German Reunification, Macmillian, Basingstoke.

Bishop, C, Wight, C & Williams, H 2000, "German (Re)Unification: Habermas and his Critics", in C Wight, H Williams & N Kapferer (eds), Political Thought and German Reunification, Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Selected Conference Papers

Wight, C 2009, "Science, Discourse and Materiality: What’s Material about an Economy with no Money?", paper presented at the Political Economy, Financialisation And Discourse Theory Conference, Cardiff, May 2009.

Wight, C 2009, "The Impossible Dream: Theorising in International Relations without the Philosophy of Science", paper presented at the International Studies Association 50th Annual Conference, New York, 2009.

Wight, C 2007, "Roundtable Participant, International Relations Theory: Diversity and Disciplinarity", International Studies Association 48th Annual Conference, Chicago, 2007.

Wight, C 2007, "Discussant on 'Critical Junctures' and International Relations: Historical Contingency and Pathways in Institutional Development Panel", International Studies Association 48th Annual Conference, Chicago, 2007.

Wight, C 2007, "Extending the Longue Dureé: Manuel De Landa and a Thousand Years of Nonlinear History", paper presented at the SGIR Annual Conference, Turin, 2007.

Wight, C 2007, "Roundtable discussant on Functional Differentiation and Sectors: Between Sociology and IR", paper presented at the BISA Annual Conference, Cambridge, December, 2007.

Wight, C 2006, "The Paradox of American IR: Science into Realism won’t go", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, San Diego, March.

Wight, C 2006, "Scientific Realism and the Defence of Political Science", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, San Diego, March.

Wight, C 2004, "The Return of the Political in International Relations", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, Montreal, February.

Wight, C 2004, "Roundtable on Constructivism", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, Montreal, February.

Wight, C 2004, "Roundtable on International Society", paper presented at the British International Studies Association, Warwick, December.

Wight, C 2004, "Philosophy and International Relations", paper presented at the British International Studies Association, Warwick, December.

Wight, C 2003, "Empire, Resistance and the Multitude", paper presented at the British International Studies Association, Birminham, December.

Wight, C 2002, "Why the State is not an Agent", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, February.

Wight, C 2002, "On the Future of IR Theory", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, February.

Wight, C 2001, "Too Much Constructivism in Too Many Worlds", paper presented at Plenary Session, International Workshop on Constructivism, Los Angeles, October.

Wight, C 2001, "Linking Agents and Structures to Levels of Analysis", paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, Chicago, February.

Working Papers

Wight, C 2002, "Globalization and the Future of War", Claremont Working Papers, Claremont Graduate University, California.

Wight, C 2001, "Too Much Constructivism in Too Many Wor(l)ds", Centre for International Studies Working Paper, University of Southern California.

Reports

Wight, C 2001, "Pre-Postmodern Terrorism", in C McInnes (ed), The Global Political Economy of Security, QuinetiQ Ltd, Aberystwyth.

COMMENTARYY

Invited Lectures and Seminars

Wight, C 2005, "International Relations Theory and the Agent-Structure Problem’. Invited Speaker, University of Helsinki.