Suchergebnisse

This book provides a distinctive and rich conception of methodology within international studies. From a rereading of the works of leading Western thinkers about international studies, Hayward Alker rediscovers a 'neo-Classical' conception of international relations which is both humanistic and scientific. He draws on the work of classical authors such as Aristotle and Thucydides; modern writers like Machiavelli, Vico, Marx, Weber, Deutsch and Bull; and post-modern writers like Havel, Connolly and Toulmin. The central challenge addressed is how to integrate 'positivist' or 'falsificationist' research styles within humanistic or interpretive ones. The author argues that appropriate, philosophically informed reformulations of conventional statistical and game-theoretic analyses are possible, and describes a number of humanistic methodologies for international relations, including argumentation analysis, narrative modeling, computational models of political understanding and reconstructive analysis

This article reconstructs Karl Deutsch's fearful yet hopeful views about the powers and pathologies of military, and other, national and international network systems. These views presuppose Norbert Wiener's Cybernetic Interpretive Hypothesis: that 'society can only be understood through a study of the messages and communication facilities which belong to it'; that the societal trend is towards more computerized communication systems; and that they embody an 'open vs. closed' living systems ethos. Drawing on science and technology studies by Edwards and Mirowski, the author suggests how Deutsch's and Wiener's prophetic hopes, fears, and insights can also enrich and redefine contemporary debates about the historical-technological development of our national societies, the powers and pathologies of game-theoretically programmed computer networks, the assessment of the life-preserving potential of our partly automated security systems, the major threats from the continued poverty of the less developed world, problems of decentralized governance, and the political, ethical, and religious justifications for our national, international, and civilizational identities and purposes.