Quantum Theory of International Relations: Approaches and Possible Gains

Human Affairs ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Tesař
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Quantum Models

AbstractThis paper considers the possible application of quantum theory in political studies, especially in international relations. We introduce our classification based on three logical ways of how to connect areas so remote: through the relation of identity, analogy and metaphor which reflects three basic epistemic positions. Next, we review existing work against this classification before moving on to consider some of the uses and potential gains offered by quantum mind hypothesis, quantum models of reasoning and decisionmaking, and quantum metaphor.

scholarly journals Quantum and systems theory in world society: Not brothers and sisters but relatives still?

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Albert ◽  
Felix Maximilian Bathon
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
World View ◽  
Social World ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Entire World ◽  
And Function

This article provides a sympathetic, yet also somewhat critical, engagement with the notion of ‘quantizing’ by exploring substantive overlaps between quantum and systems theory. It is based on the observation that while quantum theory is ‘non-classical’ in its entire world-view, there is a danger that when it comes to the social world it is simply laid on a world-view of that world, which remains at its core ‘classical’. This situation calls for engaging quantum with existing non-classical social theories. Resemblances between quantum and systems theory are obviously given through similarities around the concepts of observation and meaning, whose status and function in both bodies of theory is explored. We then probe the degree to which obvious analogies in fact could be read as overlaps and similarities that could be put to complementary analytical use: in a sense, we argue that systems theory ‘does’ quantum theory, and vice versa. The article concludes with some vistas of this discussion for the field of international relations.

Towards New Architecture of European Security

2010 ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
G. Oznobishcheva
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Science ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Deputy Director ◽  
European Security ◽  
Academic Council ◽  
Russian Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Head Of Department

On April 21st, 2010, the session of the Academic Council of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, took place, where the keynote report "Towards New Architecture of European Security" was presented by N.K. Arbatova, Dr. Sci. (Political Science), Head of Department for European Political Studies at IMEMO. The session was run by N.I. Ivanova, Corresponding Member of RAS, Deputy Director of IMEMO. The IMEMO employees – A.G. Arbatov, Corresponding Member of RAS, V.G. Baranovskii, Corresponding Member of RAS, K.V. Voronov, Cand. Sci. (History), V.K.Zaitsev, Dr. Sci. (Economics), N.I. Kalinina, Dr. Sci. (Medicine), S.P. Peregudov, Dr. Sci. (History), А.А. Pikaev, Cand. Sci. (Political Science), as well as PIR Center employees – K.V. Smertina, V.A. Yaroshenko – participated in discussion of the report. The keynote report and the discussion succeded are introduced for readers' consideration.

scholarly journals The births of International Studies in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Yih-Jye Hwang
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
World Order ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Chinese School ◽  
Chinese Scholars

Abstract This article explores how International Studies as a scientific discipline emerged and developed in China, against the background of a Sinocentric world order that had predominated in East Asia for a long time. The argument of this article is threefold. First, the discipline relied heavily on historical, legal, and political studies, and placed a heavy focus on the investigation of China's integration into the Westphalian system. Second, studies of International Relations were grounded in a problem-solving approach to various issues China was facing at various times in the course of modernisation. Third, the historical development of International Studies in China has had a profound impact on the current IR scholarship in both the PRC and Taiwan, including the recent surge of attempts to establish a Chinese School of IR theory in China and the voluntary acceptance of Western IR in Taiwan. By way of conclusion, the article suggests that there is still an indigenous Chinese site of agency with regards to developing IR. This agency exists despite the fact that in the course of the disciplinary institutionalisation of IR Chinese scholars have largely absorbed Western knowledge.

scholarly journals Cosmopolitan Pluralism: Beyond the Cultural Turn

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Know How ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
The World ◽  
Humanities And Social Sciences ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Cultural Turn

The ‘cultural turn’ has had a profound influence across the humanities and social sciences in the last few decades. In calling into question the universalist basis on which conventional methodological and normative assumptions have been based, the cultural turn has focused on the extent to which specificity and particularity underpin what we can know, how we can know it, and how this affects our being-in-the world. This has opened the way to a range of insights, from issues of pluralism and difference, both within political communities and between them, to the instability if not impossibility of foundations for knowledge. Too few studies embracing this ‘cultural turn’, however, pay more than cursory attention to the culture concept itself. This article suggests that conceptions of culture derived mainly from the discipline of anthropology dominate in political studies, including international relations, while humanist conceptions have been largely ignored or rejected. It argues further that we would do well to reconsider what humanist ideas can contribute to how ‘culture’ is both conceptualized and deployed in political thought and action, especially in countering the overparticularization of social and political phenomena that marks contemporary culturalist approaches.

Japanese Political Studies and Japanese International Relations in China, Japan, and Korea

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-289
Author(s):  
KEISUKE IIDA
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Japanese Politics ◽  
The Third ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article summarizes the findings of this special issue focusing on five questions: (1) who studies Japanese politics and international relations in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea?; (2) what is being studied in each of these countries?; 3) how are Japanese politics studied in each of these countries?; (3) what determines the nature of the study of Japanese politics and international relations?; and 4) what is the impact of the study of Japanese politics in each of these three countries? The findings on the first questions are that most scholars in each of these countries are concentrated in their forties and fifties, but their educational backgrounds are considerably varied. On the second question, the topics of study are becoming more wide-ranging in recent years, although in China, government policy still puts a constraint on the range of topics studied. Regarding the third question, the approaches that are used are becoming more varied, especially in Japan and South Korea. Concerning the fourth question, domestic politics in each of these countries matter, and financial constraints are a problem in China. Finally, it seems that Korean scholars in this area may have greater impact on the government than in the other two countries.

Quantum models of cognition as Orwellian newspeak

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Lee ◽  
Wolf Vanpaemel
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Quantum Models

AbstractFaced with probabilistic relationships between causes and effects, quantum theory assumes that deterministic causes do not exist, and that only incomplete probabilistic expressions of knowledge are possible. As in its application to physics, this fundamental epistemological stance severely limits the ability of quantum theory to provide insight and understanding in human cognition.

scholarly journals Military and Political Studies

2014 ◽  
pp. 192-196
Author(s):  
A. I. Podberyozkin
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Scientific School ◽  
European Security ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
The World

Military-political issues is an important area of research work at MGIMO. The difference in this direction from the classical international specialization is that it is at the intersection of several disciplines: military science, military-technical and military-industrial as well as International Relations. A specialist in military and political issues should not only be an expert in the field of international relations and diplomacy, but also have a deep knowledge of military-technical issues to understand the basic trends in the development of scientific and technological progress and its impact on the balance of forces in the world. Global changes in the balance of power and the nature of the conflict, the emergence of new types of weapons are changing the basic methods and approaches to the art of war, which requires a science-based perspective on problem solving and multi-disciplinary approach in achieving the goals. Military and political studies allow us to understand how the development of military technology and military organization of the state affected by the political situation in the world, the national security of the country and its place in the system of international relations. Military-political research has been developing at MGIMO for a few decades. It laid down the basis for a scientific school of political-military studies. Its founding fathers were such prominent scholars of international affairs, as I.G. Usachyov, A.D. Nikonov, A.G. Arbatov, V.G. Baranovsky, V.M. Kulagin, A.N. Nikitin and other well-known experts. Their work covers a wide range of military and political issues, including the topics of arms control and disarmament, international, and especially European security, military policy, NATO, the Western military-political doctrines and their practical application. Now the lead in the development of this research at MGIMO has taken Center for Military-Political Studies, which became a concentration of relevant information, knowledge and expertise. The center was established in 2012 with the financial support of Air Defense Concern "Almaz-Antey". The Center is headed by Vice-Rector of MGIMO professor A.I.Podberezkin.

scholarly journals International Educational Programs as an Instrument of Soft Power and Building Dialogue between States. Interview with Dario Battistella, Director for Research of Sciences Po Bordeaux (France)

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-311
Author(s):  
Dario Battistella
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Political Dialogue ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
European Political Science

Dario Battistella is a classic of French and European political science and the theory of international relations, the author of fundamental «Theory of International Relations», which has been reprinted six times since its first publication in 1981. D. Battistella is also the author of «Return from the State of War» (2006), «One-Dimensional Peace» (2011), «War and Peace in the 21st Century» (2011). Professor Battistella has worked in the leading universities: Science Po Paris, Graduate School of Social Sciences in Paris (EHESS), University of Sherbrooke (Quebec), University of Colorado (USA), University of Laval (Quebec). Since 2017, Dario Battistella is the Director of Research at the Institute for Political Studies in Bordeaux, he teaches political science and theory of international relations. In 2020 QS Top Universities Raitings named Sciences Po third best political science higher school in the World. In this interview, Dario Battistella talks about the role of international educational programs in establishing of political dialogue between states, French-Russian relations, the importance of internationalizing education to solve global problems, and also shares experience in implementing a joint master's program in European political studies with RUDN University.

scholarly journals CONSTRUCTIVISM GOES QUANTUM: THE APPROACH REFORM

2016 ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
T. A. Alekseeva ◽  
A. P. Mineev ◽  
A. V. Fenenko ◽  
I. D. Loshkariov ◽  
B. I. Ananyev
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Analytical Philosophy ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
The Way

The article deals with the evolution of constructivist paradigm of international relations. The issue is of utmost importance in terms of the search for theoretical alternatives in the IR thinking. First, we are giving basic introduction of constructivism on the basis of historical and hermeneutical approaches. There is no doubt that the paradigm has faced different theoretical challenges and a lot of critics which has to be addressed. The authors reconsider some constructivist theories and notions in Alexander Wendt's works and the way Wendt tried to reinforce and reassure the constructivist paradigm. This allows us to claim that quantum turn in recent Wendt's work was almost inevitable. Second, the article attempts to answer a question whether the fundamentals of quantum physics are relevant when speaking about social and political processes. At first glance, quantum physics approach has nothing in common with the theory of politics and the theory of international relations. However, there are some grounds to believe that certain problem issues of the political science and IR theory are not deadlocks. In the second part of the article we use the unleashed and underestimated potential of analytical philosophy. To conclude, we believe that today there are more questions than answers but the quantum paradigm is expected to be the important part of the political studies and IR theory as well.

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