Resurrecting IR Theory: Editors' Introduction to a Special Section

Politics, pp. 1-2, 2016, DOI: 10.1177/0263395716665333

2 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2016

See all articles by Kyle Grayson

Kyle Grayson

University of Newcastle

Martin Coward

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences

Robert Oprisko

Indiana University, Center for the Study of Global Change

Date Written: October 29, 2016

Abstract

As a discipline, international relations (IR) has become increasingly circumspect about the role and explanatory power of theories of international politics (e.g. Mearsheimer and Walt, 2013; Zambernardi, 2015). Research has exposed the particularity of once predominant theories of IR, the processes through which these theories were produced, the practices through which they became accepted, and what was ignored as a result. In so doing, scholars have raised vitally important questions about ‘theory for whom and for what purpose’ (e.g. Cox, 1981; Odoom and Andrews, 2016; Oren, 2003; Shilliam, 2010; Turton, 2015; Vitalis, 2015)? This research has substantively challenged long-held concepts such as meta-theory, grand theory, hypothesis testing, paradigms, great debates, and even modernity. As a consequence, it has been asked whether we are witnessing ‘the end of International Relations theory’ (Dunne et al., 2013)?

Suggested Citation

Grayson, Kyle and Coward, Martin and Oprisko, Robert, Resurrecting IR Theory: Editors' Introduction to a Special Section (October 29, 2016). Politics, pp. 1-2, 2016, DOI: 10.1177/0263395716665333, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2861248

Kyle Grayson

University of Newcastle ( email )

5 Barrack Road
Devonshire Building
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, 2308 NE1 7RU
United Kingdom

Martin Coward

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences ( email )

Arthur Lewis Building
Oxford Road
Manchester, M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Robert Oprisko (Contact Author)

Indiana University, Center for the Study of Global Change ( email )

201 North Indiana Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47408
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.indiana.edu/~global/staff/facultyProfile.php?id=76

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