Historical Practices

This chapter examines the place of practices, and particularly historical practices, in Historical International Relations (HIR). It identifies three possible meanings of the notion: practices of the past, practices laden with the past, and practices that withstand the test of time. The chapter further observes that the practice turn, in its dominant manifestations, does not necessarily have all that much to offer to Historical International Relations. There is potential, however, in the elaboration of a Durkheimian research program centred on the examination of historical practices of the third kind: practices that withstand the test of time. The main benefit of studying such fundamental practices for Historical International Relations would be to foster a more explicit recognition of us sharing our humanity – good and bad – with the people that we study and the people that surround us.