Causation in International Relations

NOTE EDITORE

World political processes, such as wars and globalisation, are engendered by complex sets of causes and conditions. Although the idea of causation is fundamental to the field of International Relations, what the concept of cause means or entails has remained an unresolved and contested matter. In recent decades ferocious debates have surrounded the idea of causal analysis, some scholars even questioning the legitimacy of applying the notion of cause in the study of International Relations. This book suggests that underlying the debates on causation in the field of International Relations is a set of problematic assumptions (deterministic, mechanistic and empiricist) and that we should reclaim causal analysis from the dominant discourse of causation. Milja Kurki argues that reinterpreting the meaning, aims and methods of social scientific causal analysis opens up multi-causal and methodologically pluralist avenues for future International Relations scholarship.

SOMMARIO

Introduction: the problem of causation and the divided discipline of international relations; Part I. The Humean Philosophy of Causation and its Legacies: 1. The Humean philosophy of causation and its legacies in philosophy of science; 2. Controversy over causes in the social sciences; 3. Humeanism and rationalist causal analysis in international relations; 4. Reflectivist and constructivist approaches in international relations: more cases of Humeanism; Part II. Rethinking the Concept of Cause: 5. Attempts to move beyond Humeanism: strengths and weaknesses; 6. Rethinking causation: towards a deeper and broader concept of cause; Part III. Reconfiguring Causal Analysis of World Politics: 7. Expanding horizons in world political causal inquiry; 8. Reconceptualising causes, reframing the divided discipline.

PREFAZIONE

Milja Kurki examines the meaning of the concept of cause in international relations. Proposing a new approach to causal analysis that emphasizes the importance of multi-causality and accepts the validity of many social science methods, she suggests that reinterpreting the notion of 'causation' opens up avenues for future IR scholarship.

AUTORE

Milja Kurki is a lecturer in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Her research on the concept of cause in international relations theory has been awarded prizes by the British International Studies Association and the Political Studies Association.

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

• Condizione: Nuovo
• ISBN: 9780521882972
• Collana: Cambridge Studies in International Relations
• Dimensioni: 229 x 24 x 152 mm Ø 710 gr
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Illustration Notes: 2 b/w illus.
• Pagine Arabe: 370