CIAO DATE: 11/03

The State of International Relations Research and Perspectives in Germany

Gunther Hellmann, editor
August 2003

Intra- and interdisciplinary Networking: Transcending Government-Centrism? by Andreas Nölke

Abstract

Looking back upon German IR research we may identify a repeated dialectic development between government-centrism (thesis) and transnationalism (antithesis). The article documents, explains and assesses the most recent trend towards transnationalism within German IR, including the issue of a possible synthesis. Since the latest shift towards transnationalism has been more pronounced in Germany compared to other IR communities, the article also reflects upon some specific characteristics of the German discipline. Here we may observe that the transnational shift coincides with a number of contemporary developments that may be summarized under headings such as German reunification, the revitalization of the European project and accelerating globalization. Correspondingly, a transnational approach appears to be quite plausible. Furthermore, this conceptual reorientation is supported by a relatively small degree of separation between IR and other subdisciplines of Political Science in Germany. However, German IR suffers from a lower degree of inter-disciplinary cooperation within a joint „International Studies” approach if compared with the dominating Anglo-Saxon community.