scholarly journals WORLD REGIONAL STUDIES AS A RESEARCH FRAMEWORK AND ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE

2016 ◽  
pp. 63-69
Author(s):  
E. V. Koldunova
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Academic Debate

Dynamic development of international processes at the regional level, various trajectories of regionalization in Europe, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world created a complex and multidimensional picture of the contemporary international relations. However Social Sciences and IR retained a distinct eurocentrism. This eurocentrism only partly meant that students of IR did not take into account non-European or non-Western realities. Thus, a German Scholar J. Vullers from German Institute of Global and Area Studies analyzing in 2014 three leading International Relations journals (International Organization, World Politics, European Journal of International Relations) diagnosed a serious geographic imbalance in the international studies, which meant a very limited number of articles based on the nonWestern empirical data.Even with such geographic imbalance in IR studies more important for preserving eurocentrism there was the absence of non-Western IR theories or IR theories originating from non-Western political context. The collective monograph edited by Barry Buzan and Amitav Acharya focused exactly on this problem. The title of the book was provocatively asking why there is no non-Western IR theory. Thus, the book in question provoked a lively academic debate on the topic. Russia was not covered in this book. Therefore, this very fact gives one some reasons to reflect on how Russian research in the field may face a double challenge of a changing international environment and an inappropriate level of its intellectual assessment. Against this background this article analyzes World Regional Studies, a research framework and discipline, which is rapidly developing in Russia and may to some extent contribute to a more correct understanding of the international processes.

International Relations Studies in China

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianwei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
Western Intellectual

This article traces the evolution of international relations studies as an academic discipline in China in the last two decades or so. Almost non-existent before the 1980s, IR studies has become an increasingly dynamic, sophisticated, and popular field of social science in both teaching and research. This is reflected in the growth of institutions, degree programs, scholarship and paradigmatic debate as well as interaction with the Western intellectual community in both theory and personnel. Nevertheless, the development of IR studies in China is still in its primitive stage and it must contend with various problems such as political control, a lack of well-trained scholars, inadequate funding, and ideational uncertainty.

Individuals in International Relations

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-45
Author(s):  
Peter Hägel
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Transnational Relations ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Discipline Formation

Chapter 2 reviews how International Relations (IR) scholarship has been treating individual agency, especially within the dominant theoretical frameworks, Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism. Various analytical perspectives, such as the “levels-of-analysis,” foreign policy analysis, and the transnational relations approach, have reserved room for the analysis of individuals in world politics. But concerns about academic discipline formation and real-world relevance have led to a widespread neglect of individual actors. While James Rosenau’s research and the integration of social theory into IR offer fruitful ways of thinking about individual agency, they often overemphasize the structural situatedness of actors fulfilling social roles. Revisiting the structure–agency debate, the chapter takes inspiration from Margaret Archer’s sociological insights in order to propose that agency should be analyzed as a variable with an intrasubjective and an intersubjective dimension, which always requires contextual specification. Power, it is argued, should be seen as a disposition, and its exercise vis-à-vis other actors as an intentional project.

Biopower and International Relations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica Guerra-Barón
Keyword(s):  
World Politics ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Coherent System ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
Structuralist Theory ◽  
Knowledge Objects ◽  
Insight Into

Michel Foucault’s critical approach to understanding power has become very influential in the study of global politics, especially in the work of (critical) IR scholars. The Foucauldian kind of power conception has influenced some IR scholars who adopt key insights from post-structuralist theory to world politics thus producing an analytical orientation, in the sense that all reality is structured first by language with discourses then creating a coherent system of knowledge, objects, and subjects. Of particular importance is Foucault’s notion of biopower, biopolitics, and technology of power. Such toolbox allows (critical) IR scholars to recur and distinguish disciplinary power, governmentality, its types (liberalism, neoliberalism), and biopolitics itself. However, few IR studies differentiate between biopower and biopolitics; yet an extensive variety of international studies issues are analyzed. Additionally, applying Foucault’s notions to global politics has been roundly criticized. This article begins with an introduction followed by a discussion of biopower and biopolitics. It continues with a discussion of the debates in the IR literature on biopower and illustrations of works of IR scholarship that draw on biopower and governmentality for insight into global politics. The article then concludes with a discussion of directions for future research.

The emergence and evolution of International Relations studies in postcolonial South Korea

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jungmin Seo ◽  
Young Chul Cho
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Colonial Mentality ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Current State ◽  
Japanese Colonial ◽  
Colonial Legacies

Abstract This study investigates how International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline emerged and evolved in South Korea, focusing on the country's peculiar colonial and postcolonial experiences. In the process, it examines why South Korean IR has been so state-centric and positivist (American-centric), while also disclosing the ways in which international history has shaped the current state of IR in South Korea, institutionally and intellectually. It is argued that IR intellectuals in South Korea have largely reflected the political arrangement of their time, rather than demonstrate academic independence or leadership for its government and/or civil society, as they have navigated difficult power structures in world politics. Related to this, it reveals South Korean IR's twisted postcoloniality, which is the absence – or weakness – of non-Western Japanese colonial legacies in its knowledge production/system, while its embracing the West/America as an ideal and better model of modernity for South Korea's security and development. It also reveals that South Korean IR's recent quest for building a Korean School of IR to overcome its Western dependency appears to be in operation within a colonial mentality towards mainstream American IR.

Area Studies, Regional Studies, and International Relations

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Katzenstein
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
International Studies ◽  
World War ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Post Modernism ◽  
The Cold War

This paper discusses area, regional, and international relations studies as seen from the vantage point of the United States. Part I situates the issue of regionalism in the current debate about conceptualizing international relations since the end of the Cold War and at the dawn of a new millennium. Against the historical backdrop of a powerful case for area studies made soon after the end of World War II, Part II focuses attention on the crosscurrents that are affecting area studies from three different directions: (1) disciplinary-based, scientific critics who value nomothetic approaches more than contextualization; (2) cultural critiques developed from the perspective of the humanities and, at times, post-modernism; and (3) the growing emphasis on cross-regional studies that seek to blend and incorporate elements from both scientific and humanistic perspectives. Part III concludes with some brief reflections on the relations, in the classroom, between areas, regional and international studies.

scholarly journals Faktor Kebudayaan dalam Teori Hubungan Internasional [The Cultural Factors in International Relations Theory]

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Umar Suryadi Bakry
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
The Cold War

<p>This article tries to explain some thoughts on the importance of cultural factors in the study of International Relations (IR).  The mainstream theories of international relations since the end of the World War II have ignored the role of cultural factors in world politics. But, after the Cold War era in 1990s, culture began to enter the center of research on international relations.  After the Cold War ended, cultural factors become particularly prominent and began to gain more attention from the scholars of International Relations. There are at least three prominent theories which are increasingly taking into account the role of cultural factors in international relations, that is, Huntington’s “clash of civilization” theory, Nye’s “soft power” theory, and constructivism theory. In addition, since the 1990s, many studies conducted by IR scholars have focused on the relationship between culture and the foreign policy of a country. The emergence of international culturology as a sub-field of IR studies further confirms that culture is an important variable in international relations.</p>

scholarly journals Development of International Relations at the Periphery: The Case of Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Lailufar Yasmin
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Western Country ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
Significant Area ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
The University

International Relations (IR) is no longer considered as an academic discipline that analyzes the major powers or great powers’ activities only. From its Cold War content of emphasizing on traditional state-centric security, it has traversed a long way to expand its subject matter. Similarly, smaller nations and their imprints on international politics are also emerging as a significant area of inquiry in IR. This article seeks to contribute to this inquiry by discussing Bangladesh’s rising significance and how academic IR addresses this issue. It traces the history of IR in Bangladesh as well as its gradual expansion. It discusses the growth of IR as an academic discipline at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, that gradually led to the development of IR studies in other parts of the country. The article documents this growth, which is the first of its kind to trace the rise and development of IR in Bangladesh. It therefore fulfils the lacuna in understanding how and where the growth of IR took place in a non-western country. One might contend what is the relevance of studying IR in Bangladesh. The article argues that despite being physically small , academic IR has generated interest in Bangladesh due to the changing geostrategic significance of the country. The article outlines the rising geopolitical significance of Bangladesh where great powers are interested to come and be a part of Bangladesh’s development. It is in this context, the study of IR becomes more pertinent in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals CAN FEMINISM BE CONSIDERED A MAINSTREAM THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS?

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Mita Yesyca
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
The World

The growth of Feminism which has given rise to a new study in the International Relations (IR) field is worth to follow. Not only since it is able to contribute to the academic discipline of IR in theoretically challenging the traditional approach to understand the world politics, but also since it is able to contribute practically because of its nature as a socio-political movement. Nevertheless, in the IR itself there is always a question concerning the possibility of Feminism to be considered a mainstream theory. This article tries to discuss the theoretical contribution of, as well as some issues followed, the development of Feminism in the study of international relations all this time. It finally argues that Feminism can be considered a mainstream theory of international relations so long as there are conversations between traditional theories of international relations and feminists theories of international relations.   Keywords: Feminism, International Relations, mainstream theory     Abstrak   Perkembangan Feminisme yang telah melahirkan suatu kajian baru dalam ilmu Hubungan Internasional (HI) layak untuk disimak. Tak hanya karena ia mampu menyumbang secara teoritis kepada disipilin ilmu HI dalam menantang pendekatan tradisional untuk memahami politik dunia, tetapi juga karena ia mampu menyumbang secara praktis mengingat bahwa sejatinya ia merupakan sebuah gerakan sosial-politis. Meski demikian, dalam HI sendiri selalu ada pertanyaan mengenai peluang Feminisme untuk diterima sebagai sebuah teori yang lazim. Tulisan ini mencoba mendiskusikan sumbangan teoritis dari, sekaligus perdebatan-perdebatan yang mengikuti, perkembangan Feminisme dalam kajian hubungan internasional selama ini. Argumen yang dibangun pada akhirnya ialah bahwa Feminisme dapat dianggap sebagai sebuah teori tentang hubungan internasional yang lazim sepanjang terdapat percakapan antara teori tentang hubungan internasional tradisional dan teori feminis tentang hubungan internasional.   Kata kunci: Feminisme, Hubungan Internasional, teori mainstream    

scholarly journals Studying IR in the Global South. Interview with Professor Navnita Chadha Behera, University of Delhi, India

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-305
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Global South ◽  
International Studies ◽  
George Washington ◽  
Gender Conflict ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The University

Navnita Chadha Behera is Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi (India) and currently a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the Sigur Centre for Asian Studies, George Washington University (USA). Dr. Behera is also presently Vice-President, International Studies Association (ISA) and Honorary Director, the Institute for Research on India and International Studies. She is a former visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Behera is the author of Demystifying Kashmir [Behera 2006a], the editor of Gender, Conflict and Migration [Behera 2006b], International Relations in South Asia: Search for an Alternative Paradigm [Behera 2008] and India Engages the World [Behera, Vanaik 2013], and writes extensively on IR in South Asia. In her interview, Prof. Behera talks about studying International Relations (IR) in the Global South countries, especially in India, and compares level and quality of education and academic approaches to IR Studies in both the Global North and the Global South. Prof. Behera also analyzes the possibility of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to become a unified structure for the Eurasian states.

1. International Relations and Social Science

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki ◽  
Colin Wight
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

This chapter focuses on the major debates within International Relations (IR) theory with regard to the philosophy of social science. The philosophy of social science has played a key role in the formation, development, and practice of IR as an academic discipline. Issues concerning the philosophy of social science are frequently described as meta-theoretical debates. Meta-theory primarily deals with the underlying assumptions of all theory and attempts to understand the consequences of such assumptions on the act of theorizing and the practice of empirical research. The chapter first provides an historical overview of the philosophy of social science in IR before discussing both the implicit and explicit roles played by meta-theoretical assumptions in IR. It then considers the contemporary disciplinary debates surrounding the philosophy of social science and concludes by analysing how theoretical approaches to the study of world politics have been shaped by meta-theoretical ideas.

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