New Directions for International Relations

Confronting the Method-of-Analysis Problem

Edited by Alex Mintz, Bruce Russett

Not available to order

Publication date:

11 February 2005

Length of book:

296 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739158173

Why does the academic study of international relations have limited impact on the policy community? When research results are inconsistent, inconclusive, and contradictory, a lack of scholarly consensus discourages policy makers, the business community, and other citizens from trusting findings and conclusions from IR research. In New Directions for International Relations, Alex Mintz and Bruce Russett identify differences in methods of analysis as one cause of these problematic results. They discuss the problem and set the stage for nine chapters by diverse scholars to demonstrate innovative new developments in IR theory and creative new methods that can lay the basis for greater consensus. Looking at areas of concern such as the relationship between lawmaking and the use of military force, the challenge of suppressing extremists without losing moderates, and the public health effects of civil conflict, contributors show how international relations research can generate reliable results that can be, and in fact are, used in the real world.
This diverse and innovative collection of studies demonstrates that researchers engaged in the systematic study of international politics are continuing, after forty years of effort, to develop new approaches and to address contemporary issues.....