A movement in academia involving the application of critical theory to issues surrounding the interaction between racial dynamics and social and legal power.

Critical juncture theory focuses on critical junctures, i.e., large, rapid, discontinuous changes,Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier, Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and the Regime Dynamics in Latin America.

a diverse set of schools of thought in international relations that have criticized the theoretical, meta-theoretical and/or political status quo, both in IR theory and in international politics more broadly – from positivist as well as postpositivist positions.