Chapter 1: International Relations and Social Science

International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity

Learning outcomes

After this lecture you should be able to:

Appreciate the role of meta-theoretical inquiry in IR

Understand key debates on science in IR

Understand the divisions characteristic of the ‘fourth debate’ in IR

Have an appreciation of the key areas of disagreement between IR theoretical positions

Meta-theory

• Meta-theory explores the underlying assumptions that theories hold and examines their consequences on theorising and empirical research

• All theoretical positions make assumptions about:

ontology (theory of being) epistemology (theory of knowledge) methodology (theory of methods)

Science in IR

• There are two key meta-theoretical questions in IR:

1) Is IR a science or not?

2) What does the scientific study

of world politics entail?

• Positivism has traditionally provided the dominant account of what science is

Great debates• The history of IR has often been narrated in

terms of great debates, although this notion is not unproblematic

• There are four key debates generally recognised in the discipline:

Idealism vs Realism – pre and post-WW I

Science vs Traditionalism – 1960s

The Interparadigm debate – 1970s and 1980s

Fourth debate – late-1980s and 1990s. Present?

Fourth debate

• Generally seen as the currently dominant debate

• This debate can be characterised in many ways: as a debate

- between explaining and understanding

- between positivism and postpositivism

- between rationalism and reflectivism

Explanation vs. understanding

• The explanatory theorists seek to emulate the natural sciences in seeking general causes

• The understanding position argues that we should seek to explore what is distinctive about social life and focus on interpretation of the internal meanings, reasons and beliefs actors hold

Positivism vs postpositivismPositivism is a philosophy of science that: 1) Advocates science based on systematic

observation that follows clear guidelines2) Believes in the study of observable

regularities 3) Tends to avoid talking about unobservable

realitiesPostpositivism refers to a number of theories,

some of which draw on interpretive theory, some of which seek a non-positivist version of science

Rationalism vs. Reflectivism

Rationalism refers to those that apply rational choice and positivist methods

Reflectivism refers to those that reject these methods and advocate interpretive and reflective methodologies

Rationalist theories

neorealism

neoliberalism

Reflectivist theories

critical theory constructivism poststructuralism

feminism

Scientific realism

• Scientific realists have challenged the positivist framing of visions of science in IR

• For scientific realists observation and generalisations are not central to social science. They also advocate epistemological and methodological pluralism

Case study: different applications of theory in IR

• There are many conceptions of theory in IR - Explanatory theory - Critical theory - Normative theory - Constitutive theory - Theory as a ‘lens’• There are varying views also on Objectivity- Theory-testing- Theory and practice

Conclusion

Being aware of meta-theoretical issues is important in understanding the nature of IR theorising because:

All positions in IR advance some meta-theoretical assumptions, which in turn has consequences for the kind of questions we ask and the kind of world politics we come to see