Dadaism and the Peace Differend Oliver P. Richmond* This experimental essay attempts to show how alternative methods and approaches are valuable in interrogating the ways in which orthodox theories of international relations (IR) approach peace. Drawing on a broad variety of critical traditions, it seeks to encourage the development of creative and experimental interdisciplinary approaches as well as to underline the deficiencies of more instrumentalist theories and methods. It especially tries to show how eclectic and experimental theories and methods produce sophisticated insights that are capable of reorienting analysis so as to respond to dynamics that must be understood if sustainable and multiple variations of peace are to emerge. Keywords: Dadaism, peace, differend, international relations, experi- mental eclecticism The life we led, our follies and our deeds of heroism, our provo- cations, however “polemical” and aggressive they may have been, were all part of a tireless quest for an anti-art, a new way of think- ing, feeling, and knowing.—Hans Richter, Dada: Art and Anti-Art 1 Is IR theory antipeace? Certainly, for a long period any notion of peace has been submerged behind the debates about states, sover- eignty, institutions, norms, identity, and representation. 2 On the institutionalization of this discipline after World War I it was hoped it would help discover a postwar peace dividend, especially through idealist and, later, liberal approaches. Whether this occurred is debatable. Certainly, orthodox analyses of international relations have failed in this respect, although they have been instrumental in developing a liberal discourse of peace since 1945, albeit one that has been as an expression of Western interests, rationalism, and cul- Alternatives 32 (2007), 445–472 445 *School of International Relations and Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of St. Andrews, UK. E-mail: opr@st-andrews.ac.uk. at University of Manchester Library on January 19, 2016 alt.sagepub.com Downloaded from