Student Feature – A Brief Introduction to the Study of International Relations
This feature is for the new student interested in becoming familiar with the study of International Relations (IR) and also for students struggling to grasp how IR fits together as a whole.
IR and the Pursuit of Knowledge: Endless Theoretical Questions?
Questions and reflections drawn from Tim Dunne, Lene Hansen and Collin Wight’s laudable and important EJIR special issue, ‘End of International Relations Theory?’ and its companion symposium.
International Relations as Historical Political Theory
Linking History to Political Theory, with an international bridge, gathers deep and important questions, which form an intellectual and academic pursuit greater than the sum of its parts.
Waltz, Wight and Our Study of World Politics
Waltz and Wight addressed important questions, both for scholars, practitioners and society at large. While not entirely successful in solving them, their works continue to inspire our thinking today.
Is IR a Force for Good in the World Today?
The average person knows little or nothing about IR’s issues. This lack of relevance suggests that the discipline should be more self-critical. The next stage in IR’s development should not be theoretical – but attitudinal.
The Iraq War in International Society
The humanitarian and democratic war motives that partly contributed to the illegal and bloody Iraq war are symptomatic of the old normative contradictions of international society.
Turned Inside-Out: The Concept of the Political and Reflexive International Relations
While international politics is fettered and formed by the imperious political culture of the West, IR is developing a reflexive turn. That turn gives a new compelling impetus to the popular and radical traditions of resistance and critique.
Linkage – Don’t Blame Theory!
Christian Reus-Smit diagnoses IR’s disciplinary ailment in Millennium’s latest special issue by pointing out that an anti-theoretical turn to pragmatist problem-solving research is not the correct prescription for IR.
Linkage – Dividing Discipline
Kristensen’s article fills a quantitative gap in the literature on the divisions of IR scholarship with bibliographic coupling, which maps the communication networks of the discipline.
