The Challenge of Liminality for International Relations Theory

This article builds a concise case for seriousengagement with liminality in IR theory. There is substantial, yet unrecognised, potential for the application of liminality

across a range of International Relations (IR) problems, from the study of the preeminent

IR concepts – power, security, sovereignty – to the analysis of the agentstructure

relationship, state formation, and recognition, war and political violence,

structural transformation of the international system, extraordinary politics during

the times of transition, and the constitution of political identities. Applied to IR theory, liminality introduces an emancipatory research agenda, revealing the radical

promise of political anthropology for the study of International Relations.