scholarly journals CONSTRUCTIVISM GOES QUANTUM: THE APPROACH REFORM

Author(s):  
T. A. Alekseeva ◽  
A. P. Mineev ◽  
A. V. Fenenko ◽  
I. D. Loshkariov ◽  
B. I. Ananyev

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.

Author(s):  
T. A. Alekseeva ◽  
A. P. Mineyev ◽  
I. D. Loshkariov

The article deals with the "Quantum mind"hypothesis which has been elaborated in recent works of Alexander Wendt. It is ultimately significant to analyze this hypothesis and to expand on its difficulties and possible inconsistencies given Wendt's credentials in IR theorizing. It allows us to develop a new approach and promising research program on the basis of the hypothesis and its critical reflection. Wendt's quantum physicalism (or holism) implies serious philosophical injury and outstanding usage of different science disciplines' apparatus including physics, biology, and psychology. Thought-provoking approach of Wendt boosts researching efforts within the field of political philosophy, world politics and international relations. The main feature of the hypothesis is the idea of quantum nature in social and political processes which appears to be the consequence of epistemological authority of current science. Alexander Wendt proposes several explanations for quantum foundations within the political and social processes including wide-known "agent-structure" dilemma. According to him, invisibility of social structures does not lead to denial of its existence. Firstly, social structures emerge from the space of possibilities and are not directly dependant on material factors. Secondly, invisibility and its acceptance in different areas are parts of science clarification in many areas including quantum physics. The article discuses how quantum physics principles such as particle-wave dualism, superposition and size absoluteness can be useful in social and political studies. This allows us to demonstrate the given hypothesi' potential in research field of social sciences with regard to international relations and world politics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110214
Author(s):  
King-Ho Leung

This article offers a reading of Plato in light of the recent debates concerning the unique ‘ontology’ of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. In particular, this article suggests that Plato’s metaphysical account of the integral connection between human individual, the domestic state and world order can offer IR an alternative outlook to the ‘political scientific’ schema of ‘levels of analysis’. This article argues that Plato’s metaphysical conception of world order can not only provide IR theory with a way to re-imagine the relation between the human, the state and world order. Moreover, Plato’s outlook can highlight or even call into question the post-metaphysical presuppositions of contemporary IR theory in its ‘borrowed ontology’ from modern social science, which can in turn facilitate IR’s re-interpretation of its own ‘ontology’ as well as its distinct contributions to the understanding of the various aspects of the social world and human life.


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (01) ◽  
pp. 124-126

The Political Science Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) announces it awards for basic research support and dissertation improvement grants for fiscal year 2011. The Program funded 25 new projects and 44 doctoral dissertation improvement proposals. The Political Science Program spent $5,234,470 on these research, training and workshop projects and $483,822 on dissertation training grants for political science students. The program holds two grant competitions annually —Regular Research, August and January 15; Dissertation Improvement, September 16 and January 15— and constitutes a major source of political science research funding as part of fulfilling NSF's mission to encourage theoretically focused empirical investigations aimed at improving the explanation of fundamental social and political processes and structures.


2020 ◽  

The authors of the book analyze domestic political processes and international relations in the post-Soviet space. They examine the balance of political forces in Belarus after the presidential elections in August 2020, and transformations of political systems in Ukraine and Moldova. The main features of formation of the political institutions in the countries of South Caucasus and Central Asia and the latest trends in their devel-opment are analyzed. Attention is paid to the Karabakh and Donbass conflicts. The book examines the policy of major non-regional actors (USA, EU, China, Turkey) in the post-Soviet space. The results of develop-ment of the EAEU have been summed up. The role in the political processes in the post-Soviet space of a number of international organizations and associations (the CIS, the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the CSTO etc.) is revealed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Oksana Bashtannyk

The relevance of this study is explained by the need to find out the heuristic parameters of one of the segments of the institutional analysis of Ukrainian political science - sociological institutionalism. At the present stage of world development of institutional research in politics, it is no longer enough to turn to the formalized aspects of the essence of political institutions, which is still a fairly common approach - in contrast to the general theory of the new institutionalism. Also, there is a widespread view that the latest models of research strategies can be offered only by foreign political science and it is among its developments that the necessary analytical tools should be sought. Due to certain historical aspects of the political development of our country, political science research has not been able to develop synchronously with global trends for a long time, but it is possible to assume that today this situation is gradually changing. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to concretize in domestic political science the analytical field of such research areas of the new institutionalism as sociological institutionalism and systematize the main parameters of its research strategy. As a result of the study, it was found that the provisions of sociological institutionalism of political science are based on more normative-formalized approaches compared to other types of institutionalism because its formation was significantly influenced by the theory of organizations. Most Ukrainian scholars use the methodological tools of this area of institutionalism for a comprehensive analysis of the nature of the political institution as a research unit, which is close in its characteristics to the latest world examples and requires an appropriate research methodology. The group of specific issues considered by domestic scholars on the basis of the provisions of sociological institutionalism is opened by the normative aspects of the functioning of international politics (for example, humanization), which in this dimension is in the center of attention of foreign scholars as well. A more interesting area of research is the peculiarities of the process of European integration, the analysis of which also begins in the works of foreign scholars, but we are interested in this question given Ukraine's European ambitions - whether its regulatory Europeanization will have appropriate prospects. Another important aspect of research using the methodology of this area of institutional analysis, and again - important for our country, are the socio-political processes in transition societies, where democratization has begun, but the achievements in this way are difficult to call sustainable.


Author(s):  
Anna М. Solarz

The 2015 immigration crisis revealed the weak cultural condition Europe finds itself in, given the adoption by a majority of states of a model for development that deliberately severs ties with common civilisational roots. However, while Poles do not really nurture prejudices against either Islam or immigrants, a decided majority of them voiced their unwillingness to accept new (mainly Muslim) arrivals, in the context of a solution to the above crisis the EU was intending to impose. A change of policy was thus forced upon the Union by Poland and other CEECs, given the latter’s strong guiding conviction that pursuit of a multicultural ideology leads to a weakening – rather than any improvement – in the condition of culture in Europe, and hence to a sapping of the continent’s power in the international relations sphere. As the crisis has made clear, the EU will probably have to start taking more account of preferences in this part of Europe. This means opportunities for the political science of religion to research the likelihood of a return to the Christian component of European identity, as well as the role this might play in improving the cultural condition of this part of the world.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 951-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFAN WOLFF

AbstractThe academic and policy debate on state failure reaches back to the early 1990s. Since then, its empirical and analytical sophistication has grown, yet the fact that state failure is a regional phenomenon, that is, that it occurs in clusters of geographically contiguous states, has largely been overlooked. This article first considers the academic and policy debates on state failure in the Political Science/International Relations and Development Studies literatures, and offers a definition of state failure that is derived from the means of the state, rather than its ends. Subsequently engaging with existing scholarship on the concept of ‘region’ in international security, the article develops a definition of ‘state failure regions’. Further empirical observation of such regions and additional conceptual reflections lead to establishing an analytical model for the study of state failure regions and allow indentifying a number of concrete gains in knowledge and understanding that can result from its application.


Author(s):  
G. Oznobishcheva

The publication is devoted to problems debated at the Academic Board session in IMEMO which took part on January 30, 2013. The main report "Effect of Crisis on EU Foreign and Defence Policy" was delivered by Dr. Sci. (Political Science) N.K. Arbatova, Head of Department on European Political Studies at IMEMO. The fellow workers of IMEMO – Academician of RAS A.A. Dynkin (chairman), Academician of RAS A.G. Arbatov, Dr. Sci. (Economics) S.A. Afontsev, Cand. Sci. (History) K.V. Voronov, Cand. Sci. (Political Science) E.S. Gromoglasova, Dr. Sci. (Technology) V.Z. Dvorkin, G.I. Machavariani, Cand. Sci. (History) S.K. Oznobischev, Dr. Sci. (Philosophy) V.I. Pantin: Cand. Sci. (Political Science) S.V. Utkin, Dr. Sci. (Economics) V.L. Sheinis, – as well as Cand. Sci. (Political Sciences) N.Yu. Kaveshnikov (Professor at MGIMO-University of Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Russia), Cand. Sci. (Political Science) O.Yu. Potemkina (Head of Center on European Integration, Institute of Europe RAS), Cand. Sci. (History) N.V.Yurieva (Assoc. Prof. at the Chair for World Political Processes, MGIMO-University of Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Russia) also took part in the discussion.


Author(s):  
G. Oznobishcheva

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.


1998 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen V. Milner

International relations has often been treated as a separate discipline distinct from the other major fields in political science, namely American and comparative politics. A main reason for this distinction has been the claim that politics in the international system is radically different from politics domestically. The degree of divergence between international relations (IR) and the rest of political science has waxed and waned over the years; however, in the past decade it seems to have lessened. This process has occurred mainly in the “rationalist research paradigm,” and there it has both substantive and methodological components. Scholars in this paradigm have increasingly appreciated that politics in the international realm is not so different from that internal to states, and vice versa. This rationalist institutionalist research agenda thus challenges two of the main assumptions in IR theory. Moreover, scholars across the three fields now tend to employ the same methods. The last decade has seen increasing cross-fertilization of the fields around the importance of institutional analysis. Such analysis implies a particular concern with the mechanisms of collective choice in situations of strategic interaction. Some of the new tools in American and comparative politics allow the complex, strategic interactions among domestic and international agents to be understood in a more systematic and cumulative way.


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