Assemblage thinking and international relations

In this introduction to the volume we locate the growing interest in assemblage thinking for international relations in its intellectual and historical context. Arguing that many different approaches to assemblage thinking exist, and eschewing the temptation to try to pin this style of thought down to a fixed theoretical perspective, we try to allow this volume to be an exploration of the potential for these ideas to transform international theory. We outline the multiple intellectual roots of assemblage thinking, and we show how some have treated it as an ontological position, while others have used it in a more tactical way in their research programmes. We then go on to consider the political stances for which assemblage thinking offers resources.