Beyond Positivism

The metatheoretical debates between positivists and postpositivists that characterized the development of IR theory during the 1980s left at least one major question unanswered: what does postpositivist scholarship look like? This book offers an answer to that question, proceeding from the premise that the metatheoretical debates have reached an impasse, and suggesting that scholarship motivated by theoretical reflexivity provides a base on which alternative, more useful, understandings of international relations can be developed. Sharing a common critical perspective on the traditional development of IR theory, each of the chapters seriously questions the state-centric realist and the positivist assumptions that have guided so much of the scholarship in the field. The authors trace the evolution of the various IR debates, elaborate on the meaning of theoretical reflexivity, consider applications of the approach to important contemporary issues (international trade, the Gulf wars, the global energy regime), and examine the contributions to reflectivism of other contemporary theoretical traditions.

The metatheoretical debates between positivists and postpositivists that characterized the development of IR theory during the 1980s left at least one major question unanswered: what does postpositivist scholarship look like? This book offers an answer to that question, proceeding from the premise that the metatheoretical debates have reached an impasse, and suggesting that scholarship motivated by theoretical reflexivity provides a base on which alternative, more useful, understandings of international relations can be developed. Sharing a common critical perspective on the traditional development of IR theory, each of the chapters seriously questions the state-centric realist and the positivist assumptions that have guided so much of the scholarship in the field. The authors trace the evolution of the various IR debates, elaborate on the meaning of theoretical reflexivity, consider applications of the approach to important contemporary issues (international trade, the Gulf wars, the global energy regime), and examine the contributions to reflectivism of other contemporary theoretical traditions.