Kavi Joseph Abraham
Biographic Data
| ID | 186204 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kavi Joseph Abraham |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kavi Joseph |
| FAMILY NAME | Abraham |
| SIGNATURE | ABRAHAM K J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4885-2830 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Unsettling Feelings
How does the turn to colonial archives in social research connect to decolonial politics? In this paper, we explore this relationship by attending to the affective experience of encountering archival materials. While we affirm the epistemic and political limitations of the colonial archive—its necropolitical constitution, its systematic silencing in the formation of colonial reason—we argue that accounting for the affective registers in which arc…
Managerialism and the Changing Politics of Inclusion
This contribution examines the tension between political inclusion and informal hierarchy found in the Hybrid Institutional Complex (HIC) for sustainable development. By drawing attention to the managerial logic underpinning the making of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I highlight how increased inclusion leads to weaker obligations and institutional fragmentation if not simultaneously accompanied by proper resourcing of governance orch…
Pax Economica
In the days following the November 2024 elections in the United States, a puzzling question emerged: how had the Republican Party, a right-wing institution responsible for ushering in neo-liberal economic policies at home and abroad, become the home of the working class? How could such a radical shift in political alignment have taken place? Pundits were rushing to any available data to tell a simple story of the present. However, clarity on this…
What is race? Epistemic ambiguity and liberal international order
There is increasing interest in how anticolonial actors advanced a norm of racial equality in mid-century formations of liberal international order (LIO). Less attention, however, is afforded to simultaneous epistemic conflicts over the scientific object of ‘race’ and their political effects. During postwar order-building and alongside political struggles for racial equality, there was wide and deep scientific debate on the analytical utility of …
The crisis of democratic capitalism; Crack-up capitalism
Journal Article The crisis of democratic capitalism; Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy Get access The crisis of democratic capitalism. By Martin Wolf. London: Allen Lane. 2023. 496pp. £30.00. Isbn978 0 24130 341 2. Available as e-book.Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy. By Quinn Slobodian. London: Allen Lane. 2023. 352pp. £25.00. Isbn978 0 24146 024 5. Avai…
Norm dynamics in a post-hegemonic world
This article examines the emergence, spread, and potential future of ‘multistakeholderism’ in global governance: A global norm specifying that global public problems ought to be addressed by all actors who affect or are affected by them. While some suggest that multistakeholderism may dominate twenty first century global governance, its origins are unclear, and its spread is limited globally. Furthermore, the implications of the end of Liberal In…
Modeling Institutional Change and Subject-Production
There is a robust literature on the World Bank's shift toward participatory development in the 1990s but scant attention to the specific way in which participation was defined in terms of “stakeholder” inclusion. Rather than the poor, NGOs, or some other constituency, participation was framed in terms of stakeholders, or all affected parties. Thus, there are two related outcomes to explain: a shift in institutional practice and the formation of a…
Midcentury Modern
Since the 1960s, "the stakeholder," or affected party, has emerged as a novel democratic subject whose participation in varied institutional sites-from universities to government agencies, corporate boardrooms to international organizations-is seen as necessary for the management of complex problems. However, few specifically attend to the stakeholder as a distinct political subject and consider its implications for democratic practice. This pape…
A pragmatist vocation for International Relations
The turns to pragmatism and practice theory in recent years are indicative of a fragmented discipline searching for the ends of International Relations theory. While diverse and contested, both bring forth conceptual language — habit, habitus, field, or practice — that promises to reorient the field on different grounds, with different implications for thinking about the vocation of International Relations. This article considers the contribution…
Making Machines
In recent years, revisionist readings of midcentury realists have permitted accommodation with research traditions typically at odds with realist sensibilities, including constructivist approaches and critical theories of International Relations (IR). In this essay, I amplify this literature, arguing that there are unexpected resonances to be found between realist and postcolonial thinking. Specifically, I show how a spiritual affinity to differe…
Defining and re-defining diaspora
Within the unwieldy and interdisciplinary expanse of diaspora studies, the central category of investigation - diaspora - remains conceptually ambiguous. As the term is taken up and deployed across
Norm dynamics in a post-hegemonic world
This article examines the emergence, spread, and potential future of ‘multistakeholderism’ in global governance: A global norm specifying that global public problems ought to be addressed by all actors who affect or are affected by them. While some suggest that multistakeholderism may dominate twenty first century global governance, its origins are unclear, and its spread is limited globally. Furthermore, the implications of the end of Liberal In…
A pragmatist vocation for International Relations
The turns to pragmatism and practice theory in recent years are indicative of a fragmented discipline searching for the ends of International Relations theory. While diverse and contested, both bring forth conceptual language — habit, habitus, field, or practice — that promises to reorient the field on different grounds, with different implications for thinking about the vocation of International Relations. This article considers the contribution…
Modeling Institutional Change and Subject-Production
There is a robust literature on the World Bank's shift toward participatory development in the 1990s but scant attention to the specific way in which participation was defined in terms of “stakeholder” inclusion. Rather than the poor, NGOs, or some other constituency, participation was framed in terms of stakeholders, or all affected parties. Thus, there are two related outcomes to explain: a shift in institutional practice and the formation of a…
Midcentury Modern
Since the 1960s, "the stakeholder," or affected party, has emerged as a novel democratic subject whose participation in varied institutional sites-from universities to government agencies, corporate boardrooms to international organizations-is seen as necessary for the management of complex problems. However, few specifically attend to the stakeholder as a distinct political subject and consider its implications for democratic practice. This pape…
Defining and re-defining diaspora
Within the unwieldy and interdisciplinary expanse of diaspora studies, the central category of investigation - diaspora - remains conceptually ambiguous. As the term is taken up and deployed across
A pragmatist vocation for International Relations
The turns to pragmatism and practice theory in recent years are indicative of a fragmented discipline searching for the ends of International Relations theory. While diverse and contested, both bring forth conceptual language — habit, habitus, field, or practice — that promises to reorient the field on different grounds, with different implications for thinking about the vocation of International Relations. This article considers the contribution…
Making Machines
In recent years, revisionist readings of midcentury realists have permitted accommodation with research traditions typically at odds with realist sensibilities, including constructivist approaches and critical theories of International Relations (IR). In this essay, I amplify this literature, arguing that there are unexpected resonances to be found between realist and postcolonial thinking. Specifically, I show how a spiritual affinity to differe…
Modeling Institutional Change and Subject-Production
There is a robust literature on the World Bank's shift toward participatory development in the 1990s but scant attention to the specific way in which participation was defined in terms of “stakeholder” inclusion. Rather than the poor, NGOs, or some other constituency, participation was framed in terms of stakeholders, or all affected parties. Thus, there are two related outcomes to explain: a shift in institutional practice and the formation of a…
Midcentury Modern
Since the 1960s, "the stakeholder," or affected party, has emerged as a novel democratic subject whose participation in varied institutional sites-from universities to government agencies, corporate boardrooms to international organizations-is seen as necessary for the management of complex problems. However, few specifically attend to the stakeholder as a distinct political subject and consider its implications for democratic practice. This pape…
Norm dynamics in a post-hegemonic world
This article examines the emergence, spread, and potential future of ‘multistakeholderism’ in global governance: A global norm specifying that global public problems ought to be addressed by all actors who affect or are affected by them. While some suggest that multistakeholderism may dominate twenty first century global governance, its origins are unclear, and its spread is limited globally. Furthermore, the implications of the end of Liberal In…
What is race? Epistemic ambiguity and liberal international order
There is increasing interest in how anticolonial actors advanced a norm of racial equality in mid-century formations of liberal international order (LIO). Less attention, however, is afforded to simultaneous epistemic conflicts over the scientific object of ‘race’ and their political effects. During postwar order-building and alongside political struggles for racial equality, there was wide and deep scientific debate on the analytical utility of …
The crisis of democratic capitalism; Crack-up capitalism
Journal Article The crisis of democratic capitalism; Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy Get access The crisis of democratic capitalism. By Martin Wolf. London: Allen Lane. 2023. 496pp. £30.00. Isbn978 0 24130 341 2. Available as e-book.Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy. By Quinn Slobodian. London: Allen Lane. 2023. 352pp. £25.00. Isbn978 0 24146 024 5. Avai…
Managerialism and the Changing Politics of Inclusion
This contribution examines the tension between political inclusion and informal hierarchy found in the Hybrid Institutional Complex (HIC) for sustainable development. By drawing attention to the managerial logic underpinning the making of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I highlight how increased inclusion leads to weaker obligations and institutional fragmentation if not simultaneously accompanied by proper resourcing of governance orch…
Pax Economica
In the days following the November 2024 elections in the United States, a puzzling question emerged: how had the Republican Party, a right-wing institution responsible for ushering in neo-liberal economic policies at home and abroad, become the home of the working class? How could such a radical shift in political alignment have taken place? Pundits were rushing to any available data to tell a simple story of the present. However, clarity on this…
Unsettling Feelings
How does the turn to colonial archives in social research connect to decolonial politics? In this paper, we explore this relationship by attending to the affective experience of encountering archival materials. While we affirm the epistemic and political limitations of the colonial archive—its necropolitical constitution, its systematic silencing in the formation of colonial reason—we argue that accounting for the affective registers in which arc…
Political science (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · International Development and Aid (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Economics (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)