The Indigenous Dimension of the Intersocietal:  Dussel, Exteriority and the Sámi People

Aslak-Antti Oksanen

doi:10.1177/03058298211050671

The Indigenous Dimension of the Intersocietal: Dussel, Exteriority and the Sámi People

Aslak-Antti Oksanen

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Abstract

Proponents of uneven and combined development (U&CD) as a theoretical approach to International Relations (IR) have presented it as providing the conceptual means for overcoming Eurocentrism. While the U&CD scholars have made valuable contributions to anti-Eurocentric IR scholarship, this article argues that U&CD has analytical limitations that impede its anti-Eurocentric potential. These limitations derive from U&CD’s reliance on the concepts of ‘development’ and the ‘whip of external necessity’, which require developmental ranking of societies and lock U&CD into a state-centric social ontology. To provide complementary conceptual resources to overcome U&CD’s analytical limitations, this article introduces Enrique Dussel’s liberation philosophy (LP), which can incorporate peoples other than states as agents and entities of global politics through its concept of ‘exteriority’. U&CD and LP are then jointly applied to analyse the relations between the Nordic states and the indigenous Sámi people to assess the approaches’ relative strengths and weaknesses and identify synergies between them. Based on this assessment, the article outlines the potential for synthesising a ‘thin’ version of U&CD with LP, by using the concept of ‘exteriority’ to reorient U&CD’s analytical focus towards people excluded by the states-system.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	83-109
Number of pages	27
Journal	Millennium
Volume	50
Issue number	1
Early online date	1 Nov 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298211050671
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
As this article builds on my PhD thesis, I want to thank my supervisors Torsten Michel and Karen Tucker for their help in developing its arguments, and my examiners Robbie Shilliam and Ryerson Christie for their constructive criticisms. Thanks also to Pekka Aikio, Bror Saitton and Nils Henrik Sara for their contributions to the research informing this article, to Lauri and Tarja Oksanen for your consultations on the title and to Lin Ma for the support and intellectual companionship. Finally, I want to thank the editors of this journal and the three anonymous reviewers for their contributions to improving this article. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

Eurocentrism
uneven and combined development
Enrique Dussel
Sámi People
Indigenous peoples

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title = "The Indigenous Dimension of the Intersocietal: Dussel, Exteriority and the S{\'a}mi People",

abstract = "Proponents of uneven and combined development (U&CD) as a theoretical approach to International Relations (IR) have presented it as providing the conceptual means for overcoming Eurocentrism. While the U&CD scholars have made valuable contributions to anti-Eurocentric IR scholarship, this article argues that U&CD has analytical limitations that impede its anti-Eurocentric potential. These limitations derive from U&CD{\textquoteright}s reliance on the concepts of {\textquoteleft}development{\textquoteright} and the {\textquoteleft}whip of external necessity{\textquoteright}, which require developmental ranking of societies and lock U&CD into a state-centric social ontology. To provide complementary conceptual resources to overcome U&CD{\textquoteright}s analytical limitations, this article introduces Enrique Dussel{\textquoteright}s liberation philosophy (LP), which can incorporate peoples other than states as agents and entities of global politics through its concept of {\textquoteleft}exteriority{\textquoteright}. U&CD and LP are then jointly applied to analyse the relations between the Nordic states and the indigenous S{\'a}mi people to assess the approaches{\textquoteright} relative strengths and weaknesses and identify synergies between them. Based on this assessment, the article outlines the potential for synthesising a {\textquoteleft}thin{\textquoteright} version of U&CD with LP, by using the concept of {\textquoteleft}exteriority{\textquoteright} to reorient U&CD{\textquoteright}s analytical focus towards people excluded by the states-system.",

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author = "Aslak-Antti Oksanen",

note = "Funding Information: As this article builds on my PhD thesis, I want to thank my supervisors Torsten Michel and Karen Tucker for their help in developing its arguments, and my examiners Robbie Shilliam and Ryerson Christie for their constructive criticisms. Thanks also to Pekka Aikio, Bror Saitton and Nils Henrik Sara for their contributions to the research informing this article, to Lauri and Tarja Oksanen for your consultations on the title and to Lin Ma for the support and intellectual companionship. Finally, I want to thank the editors of this journal and the three anonymous reviewers for their contributions to improving this article. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2021.",

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N1 - Funding Information: As this article builds on my PhD thesis, I want to thank my supervisors Torsten Michel and Karen Tucker for their help in developing its arguments, and my examiners Robbie Shilliam and Ryerson Christie for their constructive criticisms. Thanks also to Pekka Aikio, Bror Saitton and Nils Henrik Sara for their contributions to the research informing this article, to Lauri and Tarja Oksanen for your consultations on the title and to Lin Ma for the support and intellectual companionship. Finally, I want to thank the editors of this journal and the three anonymous reviewers for their contributions to improving this article. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

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N2 - Proponents of uneven and combined development (U&CD) as a theoretical approach to International Relations (IR) have presented it as providing the conceptual means for overcoming Eurocentrism. While the U&CD scholars have made valuable contributions to anti-Eurocentric IR scholarship, this article argues that U&CD has analytical limitations that impede its anti-Eurocentric potential. These limitations derive from U&CD’s reliance on the concepts of ‘development’ and the ‘whip of external necessity’, which require developmental ranking of societies and lock U&CD into a state-centric social ontology. To provide complementary conceptual resources to overcome U&CD’s analytical limitations, this article introduces Enrique Dussel’s liberation philosophy (LP), which can incorporate peoples other than states as agents and entities of global politics through its concept of ‘exteriority’. U&CD and LP are then jointly applied to analyse the relations between the Nordic states and the indigenous Sámi people to assess the approaches’ relative strengths and weaknesses and identify synergies between them. Based on this assessment, the article outlines the potential for synthesising a ‘thin’ version of U&CD with LP, by using the concept of ‘exteriority’ to reorient U&CD’s analytical focus towards people excluded by the states-system.

AB - Proponents of uneven and combined development (U&CD) as a theoretical approach to International Relations (IR) have presented it as providing the conceptual means for overcoming Eurocentrism. While the U&CD scholars have made valuable contributions to anti-Eurocentric IR scholarship, this article argues that U&CD has analytical limitations that impede its anti-Eurocentric potential. These limitations derive from U&CD’s reliance on the concepts of ‘development’ and the ‘whip of external necessity’, which require developmental ranking of societies and lock U&CD into a state-centric social ontology. To provide complementary conceptual resources to overcome U&CD’s analytical limitations, this article introduces Enrique Dussel’s liberation philosophy (LP), which can incorporate peoples other than states as agents and entities of global politics through its concept of ‘exteriority’. U&CD and LP are then jointly applied to analyse the relations between the Nordic states and the indigenous Sámi people to assess the approaches’ relative strengths and weaknesses and identify synergies between them. Based on this assessment, the article outlines the potential for synthesising a ‘thin’ version of U&CD with LP, by using the concept of ‘exteriority’ to reorient U&CD’s analytical focus towards people excluded by the states-system.

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