Finalizing this book project has been a long and tiresome, but nevertheless pleasant and rewarding experience. The very initial idea for writing this book originated in the late 2018, almost one year after completing our PhD degrees at University of Sussex and Middle East Technical University respectively. As PhD candidates whose interests lie in both Critical International Relations and Marxist political economy, we got ourselves involved with diverse set of schools in critical thought and had been exposed to different perspectives and readings of the pioneers in critical ir scholarship. Particularly, the lively academic milieu and the critical thinking to which we had been exposed at our departments were quite rewarding and led us to further develop our interests in critical ir approaches along our professional lives. As we have become more and more familiar with what has been written on critical ir theories, we realized the need for a book that comprises the complex strands of critical theoretical approaches in ir with their respective philosophical foundations and future research directions. Indeed, much has been written so far in the existing literature of critical ir scholarship. Even though there are significant works that scrutinize theorists, concepts and configurations in critical ir thinking and that concentrate on the concepts of emancipation, power and other excluded subject matters, none of these studies provides a detailed account that easily extends our knowledge on different strands of critical ir scholarship by taking into account their separate but not mutually exclusive historical foundations, their respective critiques and contributions to ir scholarship and further research directions they offer. Furthermore, looking into the existing literature of critical ir scholarship, it is generally very uncommon to encounter with studies that treat imperialism as a critical theory of ir and analyze Marxism and its sub-theories such as dependency, imperialism and uneven and combined development as separate approaches.
Thus, meeting the need for such an essential resource eventually led us to embark on this book project by mid-2019. Indeed, many companions, colleagues and people have encouraged, advised, helped, criticized and supported our project throughout writing and publishing processes. To mention a few, encouragement and constructive comments of Prof. Ali Murat Özdemir, Prof. Nurcan Özgür, Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Arkan Tuncel and Assoc. Prof. İlhan Aras at the earlier stages of the project deserve special appreciation. Likewise, we are very appreciative to our friends and colleagues at our departments and the anonymous reviewers who generously devoted their time and shared their comments on the project. As editors, we owe a profound debt of gratitude