Poststructuralism, absence, mimesis: Making difference, reproducing sovereignty

This article aims to pursue an assessment of the arguments, promises and po tentialities of poststructuralism as a genuine departure from the Idealist- Realist binary which rules IR theory In so doing, the article seeks to enco unter the case for poststructuralism through the linguistic and philosophic al precepts poststructuralism builds on. The 'moral' and 'mimetic' themes i nvolving the poststructuralist debate in recent IR theory are subsequently registered as two sites of encounter. Through a discussion of these two int erwoven themes, the article argues that concern for alterity is an imperati ve dictated by the poststructuralist celebration of mimesis, while indicati ng the paradoxically anti-mimetic prejudice frequently risked in poststruct uralist scholarship.