ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what the non-Western theoretical argument is, treating it as a two-pronged argument: critique and contribution. It describes the assumptions that underpin such a two-pronged argument, arguing that non-Western theorists assume, wittingly or unwittingly, perspectivism and eclecticism when they make their case against Western theorizing. The chapter reviews the logic of the argument itself based on three premises: conceptual, metatheoretical and political. Both Western and non-Western theories make use of models in trying to make sense of the complexity of international reality, which can be analytically labeled as isomorphic model for the latter and heuristic model for the former, albeit utilized differently in both non-Western and Western worlds. The chapter concludes with two theses: one is the thesis, à la Chakrabarty, of seeing Western theory inadequate on its own but can be made an indispensable complement to that of its counterpart; the other is the thesis, à la Socrates, of having to constantly re-examine the theoretical positions.
