Standing Nowhere(?): Navigating the Third Route on the Question of Foundation in International Theory

Steve Smith argues that the most important debate among all that have taken place in international theory is the one surrounding the question of foundation. This debate situates itself within the recent post-positivist turn in international theory which has led to the distinction between explanatory and constitutive theory. Smith further divides constitutive theories into two opposing categories: critical interpretative theory or critical theory; and radical interpretative theory or postmodernism and poststructuralism. What distinguishes these two paths is their stance on the question of foundation. It is suggested that by characterising the debate as one between foundationalists and anti-foundationalists, Smith leads us into an impasse. The article charts a third route.