New global lines of political conflict have brought into view fundamentally different conceptions of international politics, and the neutrality of academic expertise has itself come to be questioned by political actors. The political crisis of liberal world order and the academic crisis of critical theory are the subject of this book.

Introduction: Theory as Ideology in International Relations Part I: Understanding Theory and Ideology 1. Theory vs. Ideology: Validity Criteria for Knowledge Claims and Normative Conditions of Critique 2. Ideology as Decontestation 3. Theory, Ideology and IR's Quest for Scientific Credibility 4. 'I see Something You Don't See': Niklas Luhmann's Social Theory between Observation and Meta-Critique Part II: Contemporary Theories as Ideologies 5. The Costs of the Democratic Turn in Political Theory 6. The Spirits We Cite: How Democratic War Theory Reproduces what it Opposes 7. From Theory to Practice: The Paradox of Neoliberal Hegemony in Twenty-First-Century World Politics 8. Liberalism and the Cold War: The International Thought of Jo Grimond Part III: Theorisation outside Academia 9. Ideologies of International Organisation: Exploring the Trading Zones between Theory and Practice 10. From Allegations of Ideology to Conflicts over Forms of Life: Or, Why Political Scientists Don't Talk about Ecovillages 11. Microanalysis as Ideology Critique: The Critical Potential of 'Zooming In' on Everyday Social Practices Conclusion: From the Politics of Knowledge to Knowledge of Politics