Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
How Dominant Was (or IS) Realism? An Empirical Update and Assessment
Department
Political Science Department
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2012-2013
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
In this paper we update data on the theoretical diversity in the field of IR. In 2005 we published 'Re-Assessing the Power of Power Politics Thesis: Is Realism Still Dominant?' in International Studies Review. By coding articles in four leading IR journals, we traced the gradual decline of articles informed by realist theory from 1970 to 2000. From 1995 to 2000, liberalism superseded realism as the leading theory. Recently, Meliniak et. al. published findings as part of the TRIP survey that contradict our findings. In ISQ , they (2011:437) contend that there "is no evidence, moreover, that realism and its focus on power relations among states dominate, or since 1980 ever has dominated, the literature." This paper's first objective is to explore the tensions between Maliniak's findings in ISQ and our findings. The second objective is to update our data for the years 2001 through 2010. These efforts will shed more light on the question of theoretical pluralism and dominance, which is central to the intellectual history of IR.
Conference Name
Annual Meeting International Studies Association
Conference Location
San Francisco' CA
ScholarWorks Citation
Walker, Thomas and Morton, Jeffrey, "How Dominant Was (or IS) Realism? An Empirical Update and Assessment" (2013). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 1018.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/1018
