New Directions for International Relations: Confronting the Method-of-Analysis Problem

by Alex Mintz (Editor), Bruce Russett (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739158173
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/11/2005
Series:	Innovations in the Study of World Politics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Alex Mintz is the Cullen-McFadden Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University and Senior Fellow in United Nations Studies at Yale University. He is the coeditor of Foreign Policy Analysis and an associate editor for the Journal of Conflict Resolution. Bruce Russett is Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations and Polical Science and Director of United Nations Studies at Yale University. He is past president of the International Studies Association and the Peace Science Society.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The Method-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations
Chapter 3 Four Methods and Five Revolutions
Chapter 4 New Directions
Chapter 5 International Relations: A Network Approach
Chapter 6 Visualization in International Relations
Chapter 7 The Postwar Public Health Effects of Civil Conflict
Chapter 8 Alliances and the Expansion and Escalation of Militarized Interstate Disputes
Chapter 9 Separation of Powers, Lawmaking, and the Use of Military Force
Chapter 10 Democracies Prefer to Negotiate: Institutionalized Democracy, Diversion, and Statecraft during International Crises
Chapter 11 When Likely Losers Choose War
Chapter 12 Enforcing Peace: Suppressing Extremists without Losing the Moderates
Chapter 13 Are Leaders Susceptible to Negative Political Advice? An Experimental Study of High-Ranking Military Officers

What People are Saying About This

Philip A. Schrodt

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.

Editorial Reviews

An importnat contribution to International Relations scholarship.... will therefore be a useful and welcome addition to courses on methodology in international relations.

Millennium:Journal Of International Studies

An importnat contribution to International Relations scholarship.... will therefore be a useful and welcome addition to courses on methodology in international relations. 2007

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

An importnat contribution to International Relations scholarship.... will therefore be a useful and welcome addition to courses on methodology in international relations.

Millennium: Journal of International Studies - 2007

International relations scholars continue to produce inconsistent findings that impede scientific progress and have limited impact on policy makers. This volume provides a superb diagnosis of the problems involved and useful recommendations for overcoming them, along with some highly innovative and multi-method approaches to both new and old issues in the study of international relations.

Jack S. Levy

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.

Philip A. Schrodt

An importnat contribution to International Relations scholarship.... will therefore be a useful and welcome addition to courses on methodology in international relations.

From the Publisher