Understanding IR as Social Science Series: The planetary challenges that require IR to come to terms with natural and earth relations

In this BISA International Relations as a Social Science Working Group event, Dr Vishwas Satgar was asked to reflect on and speak to his understanding of what these concepts mean and how they interact. He discussed his concerns around "IR as a social science" in a context in which we are facing planetary challenges which require IR to come to terms with natural and earth relations. He has reached his conclusions from the intersections of Marxist Ecology and International Relations.

Dr Vishwas Satgar is an Associate Professor of International Relations, principal investigator of Emancipatory Futures Studies and editor of the Democratic Marxism series at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The entire series is open access. Volume 5 on BRICS and the New US Imperialism – Global Rivalry and Resistance is available for free download, as is Volume 6 on Destroying Democracy – Neoliberal Capitalism and the Rise of Authoritarian Politics.

He teaches courses on Empire and the Crisis of Civilisation, International Development and US Foreign Policy. He is a veteran activist, and recently the co-founder of the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign and the Climate Justice Charter Movement.

The event was chaired by Rafael Alexandre Mello, co-convener of the IRSS Working Group.

On 9 February the International Relations as a Social Science Working Group will be hosting the next in their 'International Relations as Social Science Series' entitled Beyond History-as-Data-Set: Theory and history in the social science of International Relations with Dr David M McCourt.