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CIAO DATE: 01/05

Progress in International Relations Theory: Appraising the Field

Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman

MIT Press

November 2004

 

Abstract

All academic disciplines periodically appraise their effectiveness, evaluating the progress of previous scholarship and judging which approaches are useful and which are not. Although no field could survive if it did nothing but appraise its progress, occasional appraisals are important and if done well can help advance the field.

This book investigates how international relations theorists can better equip themselves to determine the state of scholarly work in their field. It takes as its starting point Imre Lakatos’s influential theory of scientific change, and in particular his methodology of scientific research programs (MSRP). It uses MSRP to organize its analysis of major research programs over the last several decades and uses MSRP’s criteria for theoretical progress to evaluate these programs. The contributors appraise the progress of institutional theory, varieties of realist and liberal theory, operational code analysis, and other research programs in international relations. Their analyses reveal the strengths and limits of Lakatosian criteria and the need for metatheoretical metrics for evaluating scientific progress.

 

Table of Contents

Foreword: Thoughts about Assaying Theories
Kenneth N. Waltz

  1. Introduction: Appraising Progress in International Relations Theory (PDF, 20 pgs, 132.7 KB)
    Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman

  2. Lessons from Lakatos
    Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman

Part I. Applying Lakatos: Judging Theoretical and Empirical Progress in IR Theory

  1. Institutional Theory as a Research Program
    Robert O. Keohane and Lisa L. Martin

  2. The Power Transition Research Program: A Lakatosian Analysis
    Jonathan M. DiCicco and Jack S. Levy

  3. Liberal International Relations Theory: A Scientific Assessment
    Andrew Moravcsik

  4. A Lakatosian View of the Democratic Peace Research Program
    James Lee Ray

  5. Operational Code Analysis as a Scientific Research Program: A Cautionary Tale
    Stephen G. Walker

  6. Realism, Neoliberalism, and Cooperation: Understanding the Debate
    Robert Jervis

  7. The Progressiveness of Neoclassical Realism
    Randall L. Schweller

  8. “Is” and “Ought”: Evaluating Empirical Aspects of Normative Research
    Jack Snyder

Part II. Commentaries on Lakatos, and Beyond

  1. Explanation and Scientific Progress
    David Dessler

  2. Measuring Intra-programmatic Progress
    Roslyn Simowitz

  3. Kuhn vs. Lakatos? The Case for Multiple Frames in Appraising IR Theory
    John A. Vasquez

  4. A Lakatosian Reading of Lakatos: What Can We Salvage from the Hard Core?
    Andrew Bennett

About the Contributors

Index