Relations

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences

Kinds of Relations

  • community relations
  • customer relations
  • employee relations
  • ethnic relations
  • government relations
  • industrial relations
  • international relations
  • market relations
  • public relations
  • race relations
  • social relations

  • Terms modified by Relations

  • relations model
  • relations policy
  • relations research
  • relations scholarship
  • relations studies
  • relations survey
  • relations system
  • relations theory

  • Selected Abstracts


    INVESTOR RELATIONS, LIQUIDITY, AND STOCK PRICES

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 4 2000
    Michael J. Brennan
    Although the first investor relations department was established by General Electric as long ago as 1952, the role of investor relations (IR) is one that has largely escaped scientific analysis and academic scrutiny. This article attempts to demonstrate the importance of a company's IR activities for its stock price by establishing a clear chain of causation between the following: 1,corporate IR activities and the number of stock analysts who follow the firm; 2,the number of analysts who follow the firm and the liquidity of trading in the firm's shares; 3,the liquidity of the firm's shares and its required rate of return, or cost of capital. The authors begin by presenting evidence that corporate IR activities, in the form of high levels of disclosure and presentations to investment analysts, increase the number of analysts who follow the firm by reducing their cost of acquiring information. Studies have also shown that more effective IR tends to improve the accuracy of analyst forecasts and the degree of agreement among analysts. Second, the authors summarize their own research showing that the number of analysts who follow a firm has a positive effect on the liquidity of the firm's shares. More specifically, their findings can be interpreted as saying that, for the average company, coverage by six additional analysts reduces "market-impact costs" (using a measure known as Kyle's lambda) by 28%, holding volume constant. And when the indirect effect of increased analyst coverage through expanded volume is taken into account, the reduction in trading costs is estimated to be as high as 85%. The final link in the chain of analysis is the growing evidence (much of it reviewed in the preceding article) that increased liquidity leads to a lower cost of capital and thus higher stock prices. In sum, a firm can reduce its cost of capital and increase its stock price through more effective investor relations activities, which reduce the cost of information to the market and to investment analysts in particular. [source]


    Sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: a case study analysis

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
    Cheryl Rodgers
    Abstract Sustainability is oft thought of as the privilege of the large corporate , with sufficient funds to invest in anything from effective green Public Relations (PR) to improving its carbon footprint. What is perhaps less well-understood and documented is the range of activities undertaken by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including very small entrepreneurial start-ups, some of which base their entire business rationale on sustainable principles. This paper uses a case study approach to explore the modus operandi of ecopreneurship and draws on both primary research and secondary data to develop and explore sustainable entrepreneurship in this sector. Preliminary findings suggest that ecopreneurial SMEs are looking to other goals alongside financial ones and are prepared to go to significant lengths to achieve such goals. Monetary measures are not, of course, entirely absent, but are very strongly conditioned by the ecoconscious nature of the business. In short, sustainability imperatives remain paramount. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST AWARD FOR JUDICIAL EXCELLENCE ADDRESS

    FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
    Hon. Jonathan Lippman
    The William H. Rehnquist Award is one of the most celebrated judicial honors in the country. It is given each year to a state court judge who demonstrates the "highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics." The 2008 recipient, Jonathan Lippman, was recently appointed and confirmed as Chief Judge of the State of New York. Chief Judge Lippman was previously the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the First Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court. He was appointed New York's Chief Administrative Judge by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and served from January 1996 to May 2007 and was responsible for the operation of a court system with a $2.4 billion budget, 1300 state-paid judges, 2300 town and village judges, and 16,000 nonjudicial personnel. Among his numerous professional activities, Chief Judge Lippman served as president of the Conference of State Court Administrators from 2005 to 2006 and was the vice-chair of the National Center for State Courts from 2005 to 2006, where he was a member of the Board of Directors from 2003 to 2007. During his tenure, Chief Judge Lippman has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2006 Fund For Modern Courts Cyrus R. Vance Tribute for Vision, Integrity and Dedication to the Fair Administration of Justice Personified by Cyrus R. Vance (November 27, 2006); the New York County Lawyers' Association Conspicuous Service Award in Recognition of Many Years of Outstanding Public Service (September 28, 2006); and the Award for Excellence in Public Service of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Attorneys in Public Service (January 24, 2006). Chief Judge Lippman received a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Relations from New York University, Washington Square College, where he graduated cum laude in 1965. He also received his J.D. from New York University in 1968. Below is the speech he delivered after accepting the William H. Rehnquist Award from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. [source]


    The Invisible (Inaudible) Woman: Nursing in the English Academy

    GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2005
    Liz Meerabeau
    Nursing is numerically a far larger academic discipline than medicine, and is situated in many more higher education institutions in England (over 50), whereas there are 21 medical schools. Like the rest of ,non medical education and training' it is purchased through a quasi-market. Despite the size of this market, however, nursing education has until recently been largely invisible in policy documents and the ambitions of nursing academics to develop their subject are seen as inappropriate. This article explores this invisibility and inaudibility, with particular reference to the 1997 Richards Report, Clinical Academic Careers and the 2001 Nuffield Trust report, A New Framework for NHS/University Relations. It draws on the work of Davies on the ,professional predicament' of nursing, to argue that, although the move of nursing education into higher education had the aim of improving its status, nursing has difficulty finding its voice within academia. As a result, issues which are salient for nursing (as for many of the health professions), such as a poor (or relatively poor) showing in the Research Assessment Exercise and the complexities of balancing research, teaching and maintaining clinical competence, are raised as high-profile issues only in medicine. [source]


    Sex Composition, Masculinity Stereotype Dissimilarity and the Quality of Men's Workplace Social Relations

    GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2003
    Sharon R. Bird
    Previous research suggests that the quality of men's work group social relations varies depending on the sex composition of the work unit. Previous studies also suggest that men derive different benefits from working with other men than with women and that the higher status associated with men and masculinity advantages men in their relations with women workers. Previous sex composition studies tell us little, however, about the extent to which the quality of men's work group social relations with women and other men depends on how well a man fits dominant masculinity stereotypes. Drawing on sex composition and gender constructionist approaches to gender and work I investigate in this study the effects of men's individual similarity to masculinity stereotypes on the affective quality of their social relations with coworkers, given the sex composition of their work groups. The data for this study consist of male, mostly white, non-faculty employees of a public university in the northwest United States. I discuss my results in terms of both individual outcomes and implications for understanding sex and gender inequalities in work organizations. [source]


    Changing Patterns of Industrial Relations in Taiwan

    INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2003
    Shyh-Jer Chen
    This article examines changing patterns of industrial relations (IR) in Taiwan. Although trade unions have become more autonomous since the lifting of martial law in the mid-1980s, trends such as the privatization of state-owned enterprises, industrial restructuring, flexible employment practices, and importation of foreign workers hinder union development. The millennium may represent a turning point for workers and their organizations because the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) replaced the Kuomintang (KMT) as the ruling party. This may further union independence and power because the DPP tends to be a more pro-labor party. However, balancing the interests of workers and employers will still be a challenge for the DPP, particularly given employer opposition to many of the DPP's labor policies. [source]


    Globalization, Financial Crisis, and Industrial Relations: The Case of South Korea

    INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2003
    Dong-one Kim
    The South Korean case shows that the globalization trend in the 1990s and the 1997,1998 financial crisis had two contrasting effects on labor rights. First, these developments resulted in negative labor market outcomes: increased unemployment, greater use of contingent workers, and widened income inequalities. On the other hand, they led international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to play important roles in improving labor standards in Korea. Also, continued restructuring drives prompted unions to merge into industrial unions and wage strikes with increased frequency and intensity. Contrary to the common belief, the Korean case shows that globalization and intensified competition resulted in stronger and strategic responses from labor by stimulating employees' interest in and reliance on trade unionism. [source]


    What's the Point of Industrial Relations?

    INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2010
    Edited by Ralph Darlington, In Defence of Critical Social Science
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Union recognition in Ireland: one step forward or two steps back?

    INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 3 2003
    Daryl D'Art
    In this paper a variety of union recognition procedures and their effect on union density levels in a number of countries are considered. The crucial importance of the national institutions that govern industrial relations are emphasised. While in Ireland, conditions such as social partnership and the buoyant economy of the 1990s would appear to favour union growth, the reverse has been the case. Recent legislation to establish more formal procedures for union recognition, we argue, is likely to be a dismal failure. Indeed, an unintended consequence of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 may be the exclusion of the union from the workplace and the legitimisation of a firm's non-union status. [source]


    The Evolution of Indian Industrial Relations: A Comparative Perspective

    INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 3 2001
    Debashish Bhattacherjee
    This article examines the evolution of Indian industrial relations in an historical and structural context. In India, the evolution of industrial relations has been ,incremental' and ,adaptive' and not ,discontinuous' and ,revolutionary'. The relationship between changing industrialisation strategies and industrial relations institutions and practices in India is considerably more subtle than is often supposed in comparative industrial relations narratives, especially when detailed endogenous political economy considerations are taken into account. [source]


    Migrants and Changing Urban Periphery: Social Relations, Cultural Diversity and the Public Space in Istanbul's New Neighbourhoods

    INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 3 2008
    Sencer Ayata
    This study examines the dynamics of socio-cultural change in a peripheral neighbourhood in Istanbul, an "edge city" that is ethnically mixed, culturally heterogeneous, socially differentiated and spatially multi-functional. One major focus in the study is the changing nature of social relations in traditional groups. Though kinship, hem,eri (place of origin) and neighbourhood solidarity is still crucial in the lives of the migrants, participation in these groups becomes more voluntary and the ties among members less obligatory. Secondly, the ethnic and religious groupings in the neighbourhood are not always exclusive, authoritarian and patriarchal communities. What generally appears as rigid communitarian fragmentation is often one of cultural diversity for the residents of the locality. The associational pluralism that exists in the neighbourhood enables people to claim multiple ethnic, religious, political and cultural identities. Thirdly, though they compare unfavourably with their middle class counterparts in the city, the new neighbourhoods provide greater opportunities and more public space for interaction among the members of the locality than for instance, the rural communities. The study also questions the often taken-for-granted image of a rigidly polarized city in view of empirical evidence that indicates the multiple and complex economic and political links between the new neighbourhoods and the broader urban society. Finally, isolation from middle class areas in the city does not necessarily lead to the exclusion of the whole peripheral urban population from urban life, urban institutions and urban culture. These become increasingly present in the new neighbourhoods and available for the majority of the residents. The main conclusion is that Istanbul contains a number of such edge cities, which have powerful integrating and urbanizing influences on individuals. Les migrants et l'évolution de la périphérie urbaine: relations sociales, diversité culturelle et espace public dans les nouveaux quartiers d'Istanbul La présente étude examine la dynamique des changements socioculturels dans un quartier de la périphérie d'Istanbul, une « ville-lisière » (edge city) caractérisée par sa mixité ethnique, son hétérogénéité culturelle, sa différenciation sociale et son espace multifonctionnel. L'un des principaux axes de la présente étude est la nature changeante des relations sociales au sein des groupes traditionnels. Premièrement, bien que la parenté, hem,eri (le lieu d'origine), et la solidarité des résidants des quartiers restent essentiels dans la vie des migrants, la participation à ces groupes devient plus volontaire et les liens entre ses membres sont moins contraints. Deuxièmement, les regroupements ethniques et religieux au sein des quartiers ne constituent pas toujours des communautés privées, autoritaires et patriarcales. Ce qui semble généralement être une fragmentation rigide en communautés est souvent une marque de la diversité culturelle pour les résidants de la localité. Le pluralisme des associations permet aux personnes de revendiquer différentes identités ethniques, religieuses, politiques et culturelles. Troisièmement, même s'ils ne peuvent soutenir la comparaison avec leurs équivalents urbains habités par la classe moyenne, ces nouveaux quartiers offrent davantage de possibilités et d'espace public pour les rencontres entre membres de la localité que les communautés rurales par exemple. L'étude remet aussi en question l'image que l'on a souvent d'une ville rigide et polarisée en faisant état des témoignages empiriques qui attestent de la complexité et de la multitude des liens économiques et politiques entre les nouveaux quartiers et la société urbaine au sens large. Enfin, être isolé des zones urbaines où habitent les classes moyennes n'entraîne pas nécessairement l'exclusion de l'ensemble de la population urbaine vivant en périphérie de la vie, des institutions et de la culture urbaines qui sont de plus en plus présentes dans les nouveaux quartiers et accessibles à la majorité des résidants. La conclusion principale est qu'Istanbul comporte un certain nombre de villes-lisières de ce genre, dont l'influence sur les habitants en matière d'intégration et d'urbanisation est très forte. Relaciones sociales, diversidad cultural y espacio público en los nuevos vecindarios de Estambul En este estudio se examina la dinámica del cambio sociocultural en los vecindarios periféricos de Estambul, una "ciudad suburbana"étnicamente mixta, culturalmente heterogénea, socialmente diferenciada y espacialmente multifuncional. Uno de los principales centros de atención de este estudio es la naturaleza cambiante de las relaciones sociales en los grupos tradicionales. Si bien la buena voluntad, el hem,eri (lugar de origen) y la solidaridad de los vecinos siguen siendo fundamentales en la vida de los migrantes, la participación en estos grupos se convierte en una cuestión de carácter voluntario y los vínculos entre los mismos no son obligatorios. En segundo lugar, las agrupaciones étnicas y religiosas en el vecindario no siempre son comunidades exclusivas, autoritarias o patriarcales. Lo que, generalmente, parece ser una fragmentación comunitaria rígida es más bien una diversidad cultural de los residentes de la localidad. El pluralismo asociativo que existe en el vecindario permite a las personas preservar diversas identidades étnicas, religiosas, políticas y culturales. En tercer lugar, si bien salen desfavorecidos en la comparación con sus equivalentes de la clase media en la ciudad, los nuevos vecindarios proveen mayores oportunidades y espacio público para la interacción de sus miembros de la localidad que, por ejemplo, las comunidades rurales. Este estudio también cuestiona la imagen a priori de una ciudad rígidamente polarizada ya que hay pruebas que indican los múltiples y complexos vínculos económicos y políticos existentes entre los nuevos vecindarios y la sociedad urbana amplia. Finalmente, el aislamiento de zonas de la clase media en la ciudad no conduce necesariamente a su exclusión de la vida, instituciones y cultura urbanas. Estas están omnipresentes en los nuevos vecindarios y disponibles para la mayoría de sus residentes. La principal conclusión de este artículo es que Estambul contiene una serie de estas ciudades periféricas, que tienen poderosas influencias integradoras y urbanizadoras en las personas. [source]


    Stanford School on Sociological Institutionalism: A Global Cultural Approach,

    INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
    Didem Buhari-Gulmez
    Stanford School,World Society or World Polity approach,led by John W. Meyer has been largely overlooked despite its revolutionary insights (Robertson 2009). Nevertheless, renewed interest in neoinstitutionalisms and concepts as world society, culture, and legitimacy (Clark 2007) imply Stanford School's relevance for contemporary social and political sciences. This essay discusses first, the underlying theoretical arguments of the School, second, its main findings and responses to criticisms, and third, Stanford School's resonance with the Constructivist, Neoinstitutionalist, and Sociological turns in International Relations. Finally, it suggests that Stanford School opens new horizons for EU studies by establishing the "missing link" between globalization and European integration. [source]


    Beyond Presentism: Rethinking the Enduring Co-constitutive Relationships between International Law and International Relations,

    INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
    Rémi Bachand
    This paper challenges the views in the fields of International Relations and International Law that treat the significance of law in the international system solely on the basis of the contemporary context marked by the increased institutionalization of world politics. Instead of focusing on the relationship between rules and the conduct of actors, we conceptualize the co-constitutive relationship between law and politics, and incorporate the multiple forms of legal-political expression that constitute power relations and dynamics into our analysis. Three dimensions of the co-constitutive relations between Law and Politics are explored: legal forms, legal constraints, and the indeterminacy of law. [source]


    For a Public International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
    George Lawson
    The last few years have seen an opening up of what is considered to be the legitimate terrain of international relations (IR). This move is, for the most part, extremely welcome. Yet, the multiple theoretical and empirical openings in IR since the end of the Cold War have failed to elucidate many of the puzzles, questions and problems posed by the contemporary conjuncture. There are a number of reasons for this failure ranging from the stickiness of Cold War problem fields to IR's continued attachment to systemic-level theories. However, this article focuses less on symptoms than on treatment and, in particular, on how generating a more "public" international relations enterprise might help to connect IR with the core theoretical, empirical and normative terrain of "actually existing" world politics. Taking its cue from recent debates in sociology about how to generate a "public sociology," the article lays out three pathologies that a public IR enterprise should avoid and four ground rules,amounting to a manifesto of sorts,which sustain the case for a "public" international relations. [source]


    Balancing Theory versus Fact, Stasis versus Change: A Look at Some Introductions to International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2004
    Andrew J. Enterline
    Do dramatic events in international relations (IR) signal fundamental changes in political behavior? How do international relations texts address change, and what are the implications of textbook design for the way that we teach undergraduate introductions to the field? This article provides an initial inquiry into these questions by surveying a sample of five international relations texts. Rather than seek to pick the best book, the article examines the methods by which the textbook authors balance theory versus facts, as well as stasis versus change, in formulating introductory frameworks. This analysis is motivated by way of a general comparison of the sample texts with Organski's (1958) text, World Politics. Finally, the author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of different balancing strategies, and the implications of these strategies for teaching introductions to international relations. [source]


    A Pragmatic Guide to Qualitative Historical Analysis in the Study of International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 4 2002
    Cameron G. Thies
    Researchers using qualitative methods, including case studies and comparative case studies, are becoming more self,conscious in enhancing the rigor of their research designs so as to maximize their explanatory leverage with a small number of cases. One aspect of qualitative research that has not received as much attention is the use of primary and secondary source material as data or evidence. This essay explores the potential problems encountered by political scientists as they conduct archival research or rely on secondary source material produced by historians. The essay also suggests guidelines for researchers to minimize the main problems associated with qualitative historical research, namely, investigator bias and unwarranted selectivity in the use of historical source materials. These guidelines should enable advanced undergraduates and graduate students to enhance the quality of their historically minded political science scholarship. [source]


    Treading on Tradition: Approaches to Teaching International Relations to the Nontraditional Undergraduate

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2002
    Nancy E. Wright
    Nontraditional undergraduates (NTUs), undergraduates who typically are older than average, work full-time, and/or are entrusted with substantial family responsibilities, pose a special challenge to international relations educators. Severe constraints on time and access to library facilities both impede progress and may give an erroneous impression that NTUs are not as committed to their education as more conventional college undergraduates. The lack of continuity in education that typifies the NTU experience often manifests itself in anxiety, frustration, and gaps in fundamental knowledge. At the same time, the maturity and sophistication that come with life experience often far exceed that of the more conventional college student. Furthermore, typical requirements of international relations and international studies majors, such as second and third language proficiency, internships with international organizations, and overseas study are often not feasible for the working student with family responsibilities. Possibilities for meeting the challenges of teaching NTUs include greater use of open-book examinations, research proposals, case studies, simulations, problem-based learning (PBL), use of the Internet, and the development of short-term intensive overseas study opportunities that accommodate the working student's schedule. [source]


    Because People Matter: Studying Global Political Economy

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 4 2001
    Ronnie D. Lipschutz
    The 1990s were hard on our traditional theories of International Relations and International Political Economy, and the Millennium has brought the End of Meta-Narrative as We Know It. In this article, I discuss and dissect three of the past decade's meta-narratives, and show how they were no more than failed efforts to shore up the decomposing corpus of mainstream theories. In their stead, I offer a preliminary description of a contextual and contingent approach to thinking about and analyzing global political economy. I place people at the center of my framework, and use the tools of historical materialism, feminist theory, and agency-structure analysis to generate an understanding of the relationship between what I call the "social individual" and global politics and political economy. [source]


    Using Comparative Frontiers to Explore World-Systems Analysis in International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2001
    Thomas D. Hall
    This article presents one way to approach the case study versus theoretically driven approach to teaching comparative courses. The goal is to actively engage students in doing international studies, not simply reading about the work of others. The method derives a broad set of case studies from some theoretical approach. Students then conduct and present their own case studies. Students then use their own case studies and those examined by the class as a whole as vehicles for interrogating, critiquing, and extending that theoretical approach. These final exercises in theory-building are a significant part of this approach. The specific example presented here uses world-systems analysis as the vehicle for organizing comparative study of frontiers. However, this method could readily employ other theoretical models to examine other theoretical and/or empirical puzzles via specific case studies. [source]


    Game Theory: Pitfalls and Opportunities in Applying It to International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2000
    Steven J. Brams
    Four problems plague game-theoretic models in international relations (IR): (1) misspecifying the rules, (2) confusing goals and rational choice, (3) arbitrarily reducing the multiplicity of equilibria, and (4) forsaking backward induction. An alternative approach, theory of moves (TOM), is discussed and applied to Prisoners' Dilemma and then, more prescriptively, to the Iran hostage crisis of 1979,80. TOM incorporates into the framework of game theory an initial state in a payoff matrix, the moves and countermoves required to reach a "nonmyopic equilibrium," and threat, moving, and order power that reflect asymmetries in the capabilities of the players. It also allows for incomplete information, which in the Iran hostage crisis led to misperceptions and flawed play. Two general lessons come out of the U.S. foreign-policy failure in the Iran hostage crisis: (1) know the game you are playing, and (2) make threats only if they are likely to be credible. In specific games, TOM provides detailed prescriptions for optimal play, depending on where play starts and the powers of the players, that could aid foreign-policy makers, especially in crises. [source]


    Marking a Weberian Moment: Our Discipline Looks Ahead

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2000
    Donald J. Puchala
    That the discipline of International Relations is again in disarray was the prevailing theme of a seminar titled Visions of International Relations, held at the University of South Carolina in autumn 1998. This essay is at once a reflection on the discussions that took place at the seminar and a representation of views that I offered as a participant. It comments on the epistemological issues in contention in the "third great debate" in International Relations, and it raises questions about the place and legitimacy of humanistic approaches to the study of relations among states and peoples. By my reckoning, International Relations is a full-fledged, full-blown, autonomous, legitimate and accomplished academic discipline, and ought not to be thought of as a subfield of political science or of any other of the socialsciences. [source]


    What Is Your Research Program?

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2005
    Some Feminist Answers to International Relations Methodological Questions
    Methodological issues have constituted some of the deepest sources of misunderstanding between International Relations (IR) feminists and IR theorists working in social scientific frameworks. IR theorists have called upon feminists to frame their research questions in terms of testable hypotheses. Feminists have responded that their research questions cannot be answered using social science explanatory frameworks. Deep epistemological divisions about the construction and purpose of knowledge make bridging these methodological divides difficult. These epistemological standards lead feminists to very different methodological perspectives. Asking different questions from those typically asked in IR, many IR feminists have drawn on ethnographic, narrative, cross-cultural, and other methods that are rarely taught to students of IR, to answer them. Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary scholarship on feminist methodologies and some recent IR feminist case studies, this article analyzes and assesses how these methodological orientations are useful for understanding the gendering of international politics, the state and its security-seeking practices and its effects on the lives of women and men. [source]


    Singing Our World into Existence: International Relations Theory and September 11

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2004
    February 2, Portland, Presidential Address to the International Studies Association
    This paper focuses on the relationship between International Relations theory and ethics. It poses the question of the complicity of the discipline in the events of September 11, 2001. The paper begins with a discussion of Weber's notion of science as a vocation, and links this to the commitment in the discipline to a value-free conception of social science, one that sharply separates facts from values. The paper then examines the role of ten core assumptions in International Relations theory in helping to construct a discipline that has a culturally and historically very specific notion of violence, one resting on distinctions between economics and politics, between the outside and the inside of states, and between the public and the private realms. Using the United Nations Human Development report, the paper summarizes a number of forms of violence in world politics, and questions why the discipline of International Relations only focuses on a small subset of these. The paper then refers to the art of Magritte, and specifically Velazquez's painting Las Meninas, to argue for a notion of representation relevant to the social world that stresses negotiation, perspective, and understanding rather than notions of an underlying Archimedean foundation to truth claims. In concluding, the paper asserts that the discipline helped to sing into existence the world of September 11 by reflecting the interests of the dominant in what were presented as being neutral, and universal theories. [source]


    Domestic Politics and International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002
    Bruce Bueno De Mesquita
    In reviewing the history of portions of international studies I reflect on how we might best advance knowledge. I dwell on two issues: questions of method and the urgency of refocusing our efforts on leaders and domestic affairs as the centerpiece for understanding the world of international relations. I argue that scientific progress is best made by combining three methodological approaches in our research: formal, mathematical logic to ensure internal consistency in arguments about complex and contingent relations among variables; case studies and archival research to evaluate verisimilitude between theory and action; and statistical analysis to establish the generality of the hypothesized relations among variables. Often such methodologically diverse and progressive research will best be accomplished by encouraging collaboration rather than by perpetuating the current norm of penalizing co-authorship especially among junior scholars. I offer concrete examples of advances in knowledge achieved through the employment of mathematical reasoning and statistical analysis as many have cast doubts about the substantive contributions of these particular approaches. My perspective is, of course, personal and may not be shared by many others. I set out my thoughts, therefore, with the hope that they will stimulate constructive debate and dialogue and that they will serve to integrate diverse approaches to international affairs. [source]


    The Forgotten Prophet: Tom Paine's Cosmopolitanism and International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2000
    Thomas C. Walker
    The recent questions about the viability of political realism highlight a need for alternative theoretical frameworks to guide international relations research. These alternatives, however, have been slow to emerge, due in part to the field's traditional neglect of political theory. In this essay I present an alternative based on a survey of Paine's international thought. Sir Michael Howard referred to Paine as the most important internationalist writer of all time, but his contributions have been largely ignored by students of international relations. Paine was a classic second image theorist who first posited how democratic governance would promote a peaceful world. Paine's works leave us with all the features of cosmopolitan thinking in international relations: Faith in reason and progress, the evils of authoritarian regimes, the democratic peace, the peaceful effect of trade, nonprovocative defense policies, open diplomacy, obsolescence of conquest, the universal respect for human rights, and the democratic propensity to engage in messianic interventionism. I conclude with a comparison of Kant and Paine where I argue that Paine is the more faithful representative of the Enlightenment for students of international relations. [source]


    American Orientalism and American Exceptionalism: A Critical Rethinking of US Hegemony

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
    Meghana V. Nayak
    In this essay, we argue that critical International Relations (IR) scholars must consider American Orientalism in tandem with American Exceptionalism in order to better understand US identity, foreign policymaking, and hegemony. We claim that American Exceptionalism is a particular type of American Orientalism, a style of thought about the distinctions between the "West" and the "East" that gives grounding to the foundational narrative of "America." While Exceptionalism and Orientalism both deploy similar discursive, ontological, and epistemological claims about the "West" and its non-western "Others," Exceptionalism is also rooted specifically in American political thought that developed in contradistinction to Europe. As such, we demonstrate that different logics of othering are at work between the West and the non-West, and among Western powers. We implore critical IR scholars to interrogate how the United States and Europe alternatively collude and clash in wielding normative power over their non-Western Others. We claim such research is important for exploring the staying power of American hegemony and understanding the implications of European challenges to American foreign policy, particularly given recent concerns about a so-called transatlantic divide. [source]


    Responsible Scholarship in International Relations: A Symposium

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 4 2008
    J. Ann Tickner
    First page of article [source]


    What Lies Ahead: Classical Realism on the Future of International Relations

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 4 2008
    Murielle Cozette
    Realism contends that politics is a struggle for power and/or survival, and consequently depicts international politics as a realm of recurrent conflicts among states with very little prospect for change. It is therefore not traditionally regarded as an approach which entertains an idea of progress. E.H Carr famously rejected "pure realism" as an untenable position precisely because it fails to provide "a ground for action," and advocated finding a delicate balance between realism and utopia, as meaningful political action must include both. While realism certainly entails a degree of pessimism, it is far fetched to claim that realist scholars are radically sceptical about the future of international relations. The article investigates Hans Morgenthau and Raymond Aron, two leading classical realist scholars, and argues that neither advocated a strict version of power politics. On the contrary, they both attempted to find the balance Carr suggested between realist concerns and ideals necessary to spur political action. Both were also very aware of the dangers of nihilism, and upheld hope in the future of humankind, even if this hope remains tempered by pessimism as to whether it will ever realize its destiny. [source]


    The Promise of Historical Sociology in International Relations,

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2006
    GEORGE LAWSON
    This essay draws on historical sociology, in particular on historical institutionalism, to critique the micro-, macro-, and meso-level explanations of contemporary international relations theory. Focusing on institutional development, change, and disintegration, it proposes a conjectural, mid-range approach to capturing the processes of large-scale change that are occurring in the international realm. This essay seeks to broaden the field's scope by outlining the possibilities that historical sociology offers to international relations theory and practice. [source]


    The English School, International Relations, and Progress,

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 2 2005
    Balkan Devlen
    This essay evaluates the English School,a prominent approach to the study of international relations,as a "research enterprise" (James 2002). Our exploration begins with an introduction of a "continuum of aggregation" that conveys a given research enterprise, such as the English School, at different conceptual levels. The English School's axioms along with its negative and positive heuristics are identified and evaluated based on the classics and more recent works from Wight, Bull, and others. Conclusions and prospects for further development of the English School complete the review. [source]