Suchergebnisse

In recent years, international relations as an academic discipline has been divided between advocates of a "traditional" approach & advocates of a "scientific" approach. K. Deutsch has distinguished 4 waves of advance in the study of international relations, which end with the present period, in which rival theories are put to the test of empirical research. Consequently, any review of the current state of international relations is obliged to take as its theme current research rather than theory as such. Data used in contemporary research can be separated into 4 distinct areas: data about the attributes of a particular decision-maker, state or system; action data about different kinds of events & acts; data drawn from the articulations of decision-makers; & PO data. Researchers using attribute data are interested in investigating the causal connection between the characteristics of an organism & the way in which it behaves. This research has proceeded in 2 directions: (a) a study of the causes of war, & (b) a study of the factors leading to political integration. Some disadvantages are: (1) the work is based on deterministic assumptions, (2) statistical r does not equal explanation, & (3) in some cases, factor analysis has been applied beyond its province. Researchers using action data attempt to explain the behavior of a given actor in terms of his responses to the behavior of other actors; the difficulties of this approach involve the sources, & their objectivity & the fact that event analysis is behavioral (deals only with externals). The articulation data approach uses data drawn from the expressions of individuals, but this content analysis does not go beyond providing the relative f of different themes. PO data is based on surveys; which, in spite of their limitations, have become accepted & useful as sources of information. The question here is their relevance to international relations. Common to all these approaches is the fact that any technique is only as helpful as the purpose to which it is fitted. Another approach, that of the historian, is described emphasizing the fact that the historical method involves the critical & meticulous scrutiny of evidence cross checking of sources, selection, & synthesis. The historian is not restricted to discovering what he already suspects, he also has to report faithfully what happened & why. A. Leon.