Early in his career, with The Political Economy of War and Peace (1980), Ashley focused on conventional analysis of balance of power. He soon began to focus on metatheoretical issues instead.[3] Before turning to postmodernist international relations, Ashley's early work moved to the direction of Critical Theory.[9] He became the first scholar to introduce the thought of Habermas to international relations.[10] All Ashley's major writings from this phase of the first half of the 1980s can be characterized as a critique of technical rationality in the study of international relations and advocacy of emancipatory ways of knowing. This approach is evident in his debates concerning Habermas with John H. Herz. Since the mid-1980s, his critique has become a self-confessed subversive dissidence of the discipline.[11] Ashley has since distanced himself from his early work, considering it too ideological in its epistemology.[12]
Ashley become one of the first to challenge the predominance of mainstream realism and liberalism in the 1980s.[13]
According to Darryl S. L. Jarvis, "the undiminished allure of postmodernism [in international relations theory] is plainly attributable to ... Richard Ashley, and to a lesser extent, [R. B. J.] Walker",[20] with whom Ashley has also written.[21][22]
Ashley, Richard K. (1976). Growth, rivalry, and balance: the Sino-Soviet-American triangle of conflict (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OCLC4200282.
— (1983). "[Review:] The Eye of Power: The Politics of World Modeling: [Simulated Worlds: A Computer Model of National Decision-Making by Stuart A. Bremer]". International Organization. 37 (3): 495–535. doi:10.1017/s0020818300032768. JSTOR2706453. S2CID154161793.
— (1987). "The Geopolitics of Geopolitical Space: Toward a Critical Social Theory of International Politics". Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. 12 (4): 403–434. doi:10.1177/030437548701200401. ISSN0304-3754. S2CID147423943.
— (1989). "Living on Border Lines: Man, Poststructuralism, and War". In Der Derian, James; Shapiro, Michael J. (eds.). International/intertextual relations: postmodern readings of world politics. Lexington: Lexington Books. pp. 259–321. ISBN978-0-669-18956-8.
— (1991). "The State of the Discipline: Realism Under Challenge?". In Higgott, Richard A.; Richardson, James L. (eds.). International relations: global and Australian perspectives on an evolving discipline. Dept. of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. pp. 37–69. ISBN978-0-7315-1284-3.
— (2016). "Critical Spirits/Realist Specters: Some Hypotheses on the Spectro-Poetics of International Relations". In Soguk, Nevzat; Nelson, Scott G (eds.). The Ashgate Research Companion to Modern Theory, Modern Power, World Politics: Critical Investigations. London: Routledge. pp. 105–126. ISBN978-1-317-19585-6.
With R. B. J. Walker
Ashley, Richard K.; Walker, R. B. J. (1990). "Introduction: Speaking the Language of Exile: Dissident Thought in International Studies". International Studies Quarterly. 34 (3): 259–268. doi:10.2307/2600569. ISSN0020-8833. JSTOR2600569.
—; — (1990). "Conclusion: Reading Dissidence/Writing the Discipline: Crisis and the Question of Sovereignty in International Studies". International Studies Quarterly. 34 (3): 367–416. doi:10.2307/2600576. ISSN0020-8833. JSTOR2600576.
^Willick, Daniel H.; Ashley, Richard K. (1971). "Survey Question Order and the Political Party Preferences of College Students and Their Parents". Public Opinion Quarterly. 35 (2): 189. doi:10.1086/267890. ISSN0033-362X.
^Richard K. Ashley (1976). Growth, rivalry, and balance: the Sino-Soviet-American triangle of conflict (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OCLC4200282.
^Bickerton, Christopher; Cunliffe, Philip; Gourevitch, Alexander (2006). "Politics without sovereignty?". In Bickerton, Christopher; Cunliffe, Philip; Gourevitch, Alexander (eds.). Politics Without Sovereignty: A Critique of Contemporary International Relations. London: Routledge. p. 28. ISBN978-1-134-11386-6.
^Ashley, Richard K.; Walker, R. B. J. (1990). "Introduction: Speaking the Language of Exile: Dissident Thought in International Studies". International Studies Quarterly. 34 (3): 259–268. doi:10.2307/2600569. ISSN0020-8833. JSTOR2600569.
^Ashley, Richard K.; Walker, R. B. J.1 (1990). "Conclusion: Reading Dissidence/Writing the Discipline: Crisis and the Question of Sovereignty in International Studies". International Studies Quarterly. 34 (3): 367–416. doi:10.2307/2600576. ISSN0020-8833. JSTOR2600576.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Brown, Chris (1994). "Critical Theory and Postmodernism in International Relations". In Groom, A. J. R.; Light, Margot (eds.). Contemporary International Relations: A Guide to Theory. London: Pinter Publishers. pp. 56–68. ISBN978-1-85567-128-7.
Connoly, William E. (1989). "Identity and Difference in Global Politics". In Der Derian, James; Shapiro, Michael J. (eds.). International/intertextual relations: postmodern readings of world politics. Lexington: Lexington Books. pp. 323–342. ISBN978-0-669-18956-8.
Roy, Ramashray (1988). "Dialogue: Towards a Critical Social Theory of International Politics—Ramashray Roy, R. B. J. Walker and Richard K. Ashley". Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. 13 (1): 77–102. doi:10.1177/030437548801300104. ISSN0304-3754. S2CID220873697.
Walker, R. B. J. (1988). "Genealogy, Geopolitics and Political Community: Richard K. Ashley and the Critical Social Theory of International Politics". Alternatives. 13 (1): 84–88. doi:10.1177/030437548801300104. S2CID220873697.
Wæver, Ole (1989). Tradition and transgression in international relations: A post-Ashleyan position. COPRI working paper 24/1989. Copenhagen: Centre for Peace and Conflict Research (COPRI). OCLC474596375.