Relevant Realism - Truth, Power, and Action for 21st Century Societies | RELEVANT REALISM | Proyecto | Ficha informativa | H2020 | CORDIS

Descripción del proyecto

La vieja teoría del realismo se pone al día

El realismo, una conocida teoría en las relaciones internacionales, se basa en el poder y la realidad de los estados. Considera que las personas son egoístas y poco colaboradoras. Algunos académicos afirman que el realismo está obsoleto porque no tiene en cuenta la globalización, la integración, la interdependencia económica y el comercio internacional. El proyecto RELEVANT REALISM, financiado con fondos europeos, desarrollará un concepto de realismo nuevo, innovador y exento de nostalgia denominado «realismo relevante». Para validar esta nueva teoría, la aplicarán a los problemas políticos actuales, tales como el auge del autoritarismo y la aparente ineficacia de los conceptos actuales de verdad, y las estrategias comunicativas contra los discursos totalitarios, autoritarios y simplistas-populistas.

Objetivo

The aim of this project is to develop a fully functional new concept of realism which intrinsically combines theories of truth with theories of action. This new theory will be measured against other contemporary approaches and adapted to current political problems to validate it and to investigate its practical applications. The problems underpinning the urgent need of developing a new concept of realism are, namely, the rise of authoritarianism and the apparent ineffectiveness of current truth-concepts and communicative strategies in countering totalitarian, authoritarian, and simplistic-populist discourses. The innovative, nostalgia-free concept of realism titled “relevant realism” will provide new ways to frame current political problems and new tools for political communication while avoiding both the current realist backlash and the postmodern relativist trap. The project will engage in a detailed analytic assessment of concepts of realism and a comparative analysis and fusion of positions in Neopragmatism, Poststructuralism, and adjacent theories. Providing a realist approach without losing sight of postmodern and poststructuralist contributions to disentangle and unveil the power-mechanisms involved in every truth-claim is of utmost interest for a culturally diversified space like Europe where constant complexifications of cultures and ways of living have to be faced and are to be preserved as a value. The project will be carried out at the University of Bologna and at the University of Oslo during a secondment period. Research outcomes will be disseminated via conferences, workshops, and scientific publications, exploited for broad policy impacts, and communicated to the larger public via multiple outreach activities. With its cross-cultural, interdisciplinary approach and via mutual theoretic reinforcement the project offers the perfect balance between research innovation, individual career development, stronger networks, and mobility between systems.