1,720,977 research outputs found
The end of International Relations theory?
No full textWith a view to providing contextual background for the Special Issue, this opening article analyses several dimensions of 'The end of International Relations theory?' It opens with a consideration of the status of different types of theory. Thereafter, we look at the proliferation of theories that has taken place since the emergence of the third/fourth debate. The coexistence and competition between an ever-greater number of theories begs the question: what kind of theoretical pluralism should IR scholars embrace? We offer a particular account of theoretical engagement that is preferable to the alternatives currently being practised: integrative pluralism. The article ends on a cautiously optimistic note: given the disciplinary competition that now exists in relation to explaining and understanding global social forces, International Relations may find resilience because it has become theory-led, theory-literate and theory-concerned
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Sociology of a Diverse Discipline: International Relations, American Dominance and Pluralism
No full textThe discipline of International Relations is frequently depicted as an American dominated discipline. This disciplinary self-image has become so entrenched that it is rarely questioned and operates as a ‘quasi-fact’ within the field. However, the manner in which this widespread claim has been put forth is largely speculative. There is a surprising lack of data verifying the prominent notion, and indeed the ‘evidence’ that does exist is largely out-dated and methodologically problematic. As such, this thesis attempts to remedy this dearth of data by systematically investigating if and how the United States dominates the discipline of IR. Rather than speaking of a generic and ambiguous form of dominance this thesis begins by disaggregating the concept of dominance and stating the ways in which an actor can potentially dominate and how this can be measured. What this crucially means is that the US may dominate in some ways and not others. Through exploring twelve of discipline’s international journals over a ten-year period from 1999-2009, and four international conferences from 2005-2011 it becomes clear that the central issue is not whether the United States dominates the discipline but the degree and manner in which it does. Through demonstrating the numerous current trends and inclinations in the discipline a complex image of the IR emerges; an image that challenges a number of prevalent assertions about the disciplinary character of IR. The findings presented illustrate how the discipline of IR is more international and more diverse than is commonly perceived, and yet how the discipline of IR still experiences certain forms of American dominance. This thesis aims to highlight the importance of perspective and consequently how we need to be more nuanced and reflective in the ways we characterize the discipline’s dominance claims. Overall this thesis aims to highlight the many dynamics occurring at different levels of the discipline, all of which shape the contours of the field and IR’s relationship with the American academy.Department of Politics, University of Exeter
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The Development of International Relations Studies in Turkey
Full text linkThe major subject matter of this thesis is the development of International Relations (IR) studies as an academic discipline in Turkey. Despite its firm history, the high level of institutionalization and its considerable size, the IR community in Turkey (IRCT) has not been able to contribute to the theoretical studies of global IR. The thesis suggests that Turkey and Western IR communities have been functionally integrated. Whereas, the Western IR communities tend to produce theoretical knowledge, the IRCT has mainly contributed to the Western IR literature as local/area experts. The IRCT tend to specialize on Turkish foreign policy, area studies and Turkey (as a region of study) with a special focus on political-security issues. The thesis analyzes the IRCT in terms of two major groups of academics: the Western-IR-socialized scholars and other scholars. The thesis aims to analyze major factors behind the functional division of labor between the Western and Turkish IR communities, Turkish IR scholars tendency to produce empirical knowledge related with Turkish foreign policy and the low level of theoretical coordination and fragmentation between the Western-IR-socialized and other scholars in Turkish IR.
In order to explore the case of Turkish IR, the thesis uses Richard Whitley’s theoretical model in the sociology of science and focuses on the internal and external structure of the Turkish IR discipline. Both qualitative and quantitative research techniques such as descriptive statistics, questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviewing, publication analysis, discourse analysis, citation analysis and process-tracing method were used in the thesis. The thesis argues that the Western IR community has a high level of control over the competence and performance standards and key resources of knowledge production in IR. This tendency results in high level of mutual dependence and low level of task uncertainty between Western and Turkish IR scholars and lead to functional integration between them and encourage the IRCT to produce empirical knowledge related with Turkish foreign policy. Moreover, as a consequence of the low level of control over competence and performance standards, the low level of standardization of research skills and methods and the low level of common technical background and norms, the mutual dependence and theoretical coordination between Turkish IR scholars is low.Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK) (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
World market, world state, world society : Marxian insights and scientific realist interrogations
No full textCritical Realism, International Relations Theory and Marxism
No full textBu makale eleştirel gerçekçilik ile Marksizm arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektedir
China, Pariah Status and International Society
Full text linkPariah status in international society denotes an international social hierarchy and differentiation of states caused by power differentials between state groups along the material and normative spectrums. From the late Qing era to the present day, China’s engagement with international society has largely been marked by a sharp fall from the ‘Middle Kingdom’ to a pariah, followed by a recent rise to great power status. This thesis traces and analyses China’s experience as a pariah in international society since 1839, and explains China’s responses to the normative boundaries and behavioural standards set by members of international society. To this end, this thesis addresses two themes.
Theme One (Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4) provides an account of the sociological history of pariah state, on which basis it conducts an empirical study on China’s pariah past. Theme Two (Chapter 5) brings in a sociological account of status to understand the fall and rise of states (particularly that of China), and to explain state responses to the normative boundaries alongside their status change in international society. Moreover, it challenges the material-power based power transition theory on China’s rise and destiny, and argues for an alternative status-led account. In general, this thesis resonates greatly with English School theorists and social constructivists in terms of the understanding of and approach towards international relations. In a broad sense, it adopts a combined sociological and historical approach towards the study of the international, specifically that of pariah and status.
The main contentions of this thesis are: first, pariah is a social, relational and historically contingent term. Pariah states are socially made through a process of rule making, rule-application, and behaviour-judging, with the rule-makers being those who are positioned at the higher ends of both material and normative power spectrums. The criteria for pariah are not fixed, but subject to change as they are conditioned by the changing international normative/material structures and dynamics among actors. Second, state status has both material and social implications in international society. It derives from the internal/domestic attributes of the state as well as the external/international. The attainment of status hinges upon material power capacity, state identity, behavioural legitimacy, and international perception thereof. Third, empirically, the fall and rise of China in international society is not merely a process of China’s material power decline and elevation relative to others, but was also accompanied by its social mobility downward and upward. China’s responses to the international normative boundaries are not purely determined by material power incentives. Instead, it is the complex interplay between the material and the social that accounts for China’s constant struggle between compliance with the standardised behavioural codes prescribed in the standard of civilisation, and attempts to contest them by inserting its own civilisational values
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