Leading scholars incorporate domestic and international aims, choices, factors, and processes to explore the advantages of crossing methodological and analytical boundaries to gain a better understanding of international relations. They examine the complexity of international affairs and consider how scholars should best study it.

Publisher Description

We still lack practical answers to one of the most basic questions in empirical research: How should researchers interpret meanings? The contributors take seriously the goals of both post-modernist and positivist researchers, as they offer detailed guidance on how to apply specific tools of analysis and how to circumvent their inherent limitations.

During 2008-2009, the world experienced its worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The crisis followed the effects of the food and fuel price hikes in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, global output contracted by 2 per cent. This 2011 Report on the World Social Situation reviews the ongoing adverse social consequences of these crises after an overview of its causes and transmission.

The only guide to conducting research in International Relations. Covering the full breadth of methods in IR with unrivalled clarity, this best-selling textbook takes you through the entire process of doing research, from honing your question to writing up the dissertation. The engaging and jargon-free style demystifies the process of doing research, whilst helping you develop a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and limitations of different methods and methodologies. This second edition comes with new chapters on conducting interviews and discourse analysis, as well as expanded coverage of qualitative and quantitative methods. Packed with examples, it explores the breadth of IR research today, from the long-lasting impact of colonialism to migration policy; climate change negotiations to international aid. Covering the most cutting-edge methodological developments, including critical realism, feminist, and postcolonial approaches, it helps you understand and apply research methods in world politics. This practical introduction is essential reading for anyone setting out on their International Relations research project for the first time, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Christopher Lamont is Assistant Dean of E-Track Programs and Associate Professor of International Relations at Tokyo International University, Japan.

Aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, this book covers the theory of foreign policy analysis. Beginning with an overview, it then tackles theory and research at multiple levels of analysis, ending with an examination of the areas in which the next generation of foreign policy analysts can make important contributions.

Forfatterens mål med denne bog er: 1) Analyse af de gældende teorier for international politik og hvad der heri er lagt størst vægt på. 2) Konstruktion af en teori for international politik som kan kan råde bod på de mangler, der er i de nu gældende. 3) Afprøvning af den rekonstruerede teori på faktiske hændelsesforløb.

The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations offers a comprehensive overview of research processes in social science — from the ideation and design of research projects, through the construction of theoretical arguments, to conceptualization, measurement, & data collection, and quantitative & qualitative empirical analysis — exposited through 65 major new contributions from leading international methodologists. Each chapter surveys, builds upon, and extends the modern state of the art in its area. Following through its six-part organization, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practicing academics will be guided through the design, methods, and analysis of issues in Political Science and International Relations: Part One: Formulating Good Research Questions & Designing Good Research Projects Part Two: Methods of Theoretical Argumentation Part Three: Conceptualization & Measurement Part Four: Large-Scale Data Collection & Representation Methods Part Five: Quantitative-Empirical Methods Part Six: Qualitative & "Mixed" Methods

This exciting new book aims to re-invigorate the conversation between foreign policy analysis and international relations. It opens up the discussion, situating existing debates in foreign policy in relation to contemporary concerns in international relations, and provide a concise and accessible account of key areas in foreign policy analysis that are often ignored. Focusing on how the process of foreign policy decision making affects the conduct of states in the international system, and analysing the relationship between policy, agency and actors, the work examines: foreign policy and bureaucracies domestic sources of foreign policy foreign policy and the state foreign policy and globalization foreign policy and change. This work builds on and expands the theoretical canvas of foreign policy analysis, shaping its ongoing dialogue with international relations and offering an important introduction to the field. It is essential reading for all students of foreign policy and international relations.