ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how the problem of difference emerged in the early modern era. It highlights Karl Polanyi's contribution to our engagement with difference, noting how the writings of Tzvetan Todorov and Ashis Nandy shape the reading of Polanyi. The chapter draws attention to other work on difference in IR, noting the multiple sources employed by scholars and the growing number of authors students might consult. It demonstrates the critical potential of IR as a site for the exploration of difference. It also lurks as a threat something beyond European norms of order. The chapter describes Polanyi's strategy as ethnological and proposes rethinking international political economy (IPE) as an ethnological practice. Finally, it argues that other scholars also draw on Tordorov, Nandy, and Polanyi to think through the problem of difference in ways that complement and inform the work.
