[Tps] TPS - IR as a social science

[Navdeep Mathur]

 From TPS - Message posted from the Interpretation and Methods Listserv: 
http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods


New BISA working group on International Relations as a Social Science


Dear colleagues,


As some of you already know, a new BISA working group on 'International 
Relations as a Social Science' has been set up. We want to welcome 
everyone interested to take part in the discussions and debates. We also 
wish thank  

everyone already involved, and the BISA executive, for their support in 
setting up the working group. Please find below

1) "A RATIONALE" OF THE WORKING GROUP;

2) INFORMATION ON THE FIRST WORKSHOP TO BE HELD AT THE LSE IN OCTOBER;

3) A CALL FOR PAPERS FOR BISA ANNUAL CONFERENCE AT CAMBRIDGE.




1. The key aim of the working group is to debate and develop the status 
of social scientific IR in Britain.  Moreover, while not all British IR 
scholars would avoid associations of their research with the label 
'science', the historicist and often "post-positivist" nature of much  

British IR theory largely distinguishes itself from approaches grounded 
in more traditional (positivist) notions of social science. Indeed there 
is, overall, a lack of reflection on how IR in Britain constitutes 
itself, self-consciously or otherwise, as a social science. American 
scholars,  on the other hand, explicitly attempt to ground their 
research in a scientific framework embedded within positivist 
assumptions. Despite the many benefits gained from what can be thought 
of as the British approach to IR, its persistent anti-scientific focus 
has at least three major

negative consequences. First, the rejection of science means that the 
American view of what it means to do 'good social science' dominates. 
Second, and given the high value placed on scientific research in modern 
societies, American IR enjoys a position of privilege in relation to  

British IR. Finally, many anti-scientific British IR approaches have 
unexamined relationships with theories of science, which need to be 
unpacked in order to better address the position of science in British 
IR as a whole. 

It is hence noticeable that recently, disparate groups of researchers 
working in IR have begun to actively incorporate alternative models of 
science into their research. These include for example complexity 
theorists, scientific and critical realists, historical sociologists and 
Luhmann inspired systems theorists. The purpose of this working group is 
to create a forum that will allow these researchers and other interested 
parties to collaborate and develop a productive dialogue surrounding 
distinctive non-positivist approaches to social science within the IR 
community. The group aims to be theoretically pluralistic and welcomes 
participants from all areas of the discipline who have an interest in 
developing the status of social scientific IR in Britain.

To get on the mailing list for upcoming activities of the working group, 
please email your contact details to convenors Marjo Koivisto 
(M.A.Koivisto at lse.ac.uk <mailto:M.A.Koivisto at lse.ac.uk>) and Colin Wight 
(C.Wight at exeter.ac.uk <mailto:C.Wight at exeter.ac.uk>). Further details on 
the working group theme are also available from the convenors.

2. WORKSHOP: "IR AFTER POST-POSITIVISM: STILL A SOCIAL SCIENCE?", London 
School of Economics, 6 OCTOBER 2007.

The first workshop of the working group will be held at the LSE in 
October. This will be a one-day workshop,  open to all BISA members and 
other interested colleagues, consisting of a keynote address, two panel 
sessions, a roundtable, and a reception to follow. The aim of this 
workshop is to bring together interested scholars and research students 
to consider whether the field of International Relations can and should 
still be considered a social science following the emergence and 
prominence of postpositivism. More specifically, what can, and indeed 
should,  a postpositivist social scientific IR look like?

We are currently in the process of finalising the workshop programme, 
and will be in touch with final details as we have them. Should you be 
interested in presenting a paper at the workshop or have other queries, 
please do not hesitate to get in touch with the convenors (as above).

3. CALL FOR PAPERS: BISA ANNUAL CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
17-19 DECEMBER, 2007

The working group invites proposals for papers for the BISA annual 
conference 2007. For example, we are interested  in convening 
panels/roundtables on the following themes:

* What does it mean for IR scholars of different theoretical persuasions 
to do 'scientific research'?
* What is the relationship between poststructuralism and science?
* What can be gained from reassessments of the relationship between 
'science' and 'history' for IR as a social science?

 
Additionally, we welcome other panel/paper proposals related to the 
working group theme. We kindly ask to receive the abstracts via email by 
27 April 2007.



Hope to see you in London in October and in Cambridge in December.

Best regards,

Marjo Koivisto and Colin Wight

Convenors, BISA working group on 'International Relations as a Social 
Science'.



-- 
-- 
C. Wilkinson

International Day Against Homophobia 17 May 2007

Room 354
+44 (0) 121 414 8242 (work)
+44 (0) 7904 185135 (mobile, no voicemail)

Ph.D candidate
Centre for Russian & East European Studies (ERI)
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.

www.crees.bham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/wilkinson.htm 
<http://www.crees.bham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/wilkinson.htm>

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