The Discourse of Self-Interest: The False Promise of Realism and Free Trade Liberalism.

This paper deals with meta-hegemony, that is hegemony within IR and IPE as fields of study, and examines the notion of self-interest as a key component in the dominant discourse of both fields. Specifically, why is self-interest such a seductive theoretical base for a paradigm (e.g., Realism and Smithian IPE)? To what extent does the assumption of self-interest limit scholars in their ability to build theory that accurately reflects the world, and what shortcomings are inherent in any body of theory based on premise of self-interest? The paper outlines the self-interest based components of Realism -- as a dominant discourse in IR theory, and free-trade liberalism -- as a dominant discourse in IPE. These discourses are then examined in context of a constructivist notion of ‘social interest’ in an effort to explain how flawed discourse can remain dominant in a given field of study even when these flaws are recognized. The paper concludes with a more complex, hierarchical understanding of ‘interest’ that may be applied in a meta-hegemonic as well as paradigmatic sense, and calls for a serious reconsideration of the assumptions built into the dominant theoretical discourses of IR and IPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]