{"id":1380,"date":"2025-09-27T18:14:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T22:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qrpascal.com\/?p=1380"},"modified":"2025-09-28T10:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T14:38:25","slug":"category-theoretic-paradigm-shift-proposed-by-arfi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qrpascal.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/27\/category-theoretic-paradigm-shift-proposed-by-arfi\/","title":{"rendered":"Category-Theoretic Paradigm Shift Proposed by Arfi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Category-Theoretic Openings in Quantum IR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 11 of Quantum International Relations<\/em> invites social theories to change perspective. Drawing on category theory, Badredine Arfi suggests that we can view social life not as fixed substances (states, leaders, borders) but as relations between relations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Badredine Arfi is a professor of political science<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In category-theoretic language, the objects<\/em> are less important than the arrows<\/em>, the transformations themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an IR perspective this is quietly radical. It tells us that a treaty, a security dilemma, or a cultural exchange is not merely an interaction between pre-given actors. Each is an operation that redefines the very actors involved,<\/em> a dynamic echo of quantum concepts like superposition and entanglement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Current Paradigm Through Arfi\u2019s Category Lens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arfi begins by diagnosing where International Relations still stands today.
Despite decades of critique, the dominant frame remains neo-positivist and substance-oriented. States, markets, and even \u201cglobal civil society\u201d are considered given objects that interact through measurable variables. In categorical terms, this is an object-first ontology: the emphasis is on stable \u201cnodes\u201d (states, institutions, agents) and on functions that merely transfer properties from one node to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several features of this paradigm stand out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n