Torbjørn L. Knutsen
The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics is a fabulous but depressing genealogy of the modern study of International Relations (IR). The book is impressively comprehensive in content, It is complex in design. It exposes the self-serving dogmatism which have always marked mainstream IR literature. While admiring the scholarly qualities of the book, this review wonders if its critical exposure is excessive? Is there any scholarly approach in IR which is not crippled by its comprehensive condemnation? Does this book, which is written in the European tradition of Critical Theory, ultimately become a victim of its own sweeping criticism of the Western canon?