Volume 15, Number 4, 1984 La crise des relations internationales : vers un bilan Guest-edited by Bahgat Korany

EN:

Emphasizing divergences in the perception of the main characteristics of the world System, this paper concentrates on five main issues: 1) whether the System is getting more integrated or more disintegrated; 2) whether ideology is coming to an end or coming back ; 3) whether the System is multipolar or bipolar ; 4) what are the bases of different poles ; and 5) what help social theory can offer to find the "right" answer. Quantitative data are presented to support the different contentions. The paper's thesis is that even the available data are interpreted differently by different researchers, and this shows the primacy of epistemology, the researchers' basic premises, and the importance of relating the analysis of international relations to issues in philosophy of science.

EN:

The thesis of this paper is that despite the so-called breakthrough in the study of International Relations following the behavioral revolution of the 1960s, this field is still Anglo-saxon, particularly American-centered. The paper's emphasis then is on the widening of International Relations as a field of analysis and the bringing in of differing approaches so that this field becomes truly universal as its name indicates.

To review the evolution of this field, the paper is divided into two main parts of unequal length. The short part one review s Kuhn's scheme concerning the different stages in the evolution of science. The long part two applies this scheme to the study of International Relations and characterizes it as in a state of crisis, because of its lack of a consensual paradigm to guide analysis and research. It emphasises that the division between schools is not only methodological, but especially epistemological and ideological. Consequently, the paper analyses in detail the different arguments of four schools : Realism, Behavioralism, Marxism, and Neo-Marxism and Dependencia.

EN:

This article attempts to identify the great issues which have formed the mainstay of the strategic literature over the past twenty-five years. Its is essentially designee to acquaint the student with the major works and debates which have been published or discussed over the same period of time. The only new debates seem to bear on the ecological consequences of a nuclear war, and on the resurgence of the pacifist movements. The last section deals with the major issues of the future, such as outer space, ballistic missile defense, and the potential increase of the risks of a conventional war due to the progress of technology.

EN:

This paper is designed to enrich basic concepts. The specific goals are twofold: to stimulate a renewed interest in a System orientation to international relations ; and to prepare the g round for an analysis of the system-crisis linkage, that is, crises as international earthquakes or triggers to System change. The first section analyses approches to international Systems. In the light of their shortcomings a revised definition of a System is presented, along with a discussion of the core System components - structure, process, issue, boundaries, context and environment. The second part attempts to break fresh ground on the concepts of stability and equilibrium. The third section provides a new perspective on systemic crisis. Part four confronts the major task of linking the unit and System levels of crisis analysis, conceptually and empirically.

EN:

One of the aspects characterizing the state of International Relations at the moment is the increasing emphasis on political economy. This is the approach of the present paper. It is more in the form of succinct propositions than detailed analysis, since the latter is available in the author' s previous writings. Specifically, the paper concentrates on five aspects: the nature of the world economy, its mode of functioning, its basic tendencies, the crisis of the global system, and future prospects of evolution the paper emphasizes both the interconnectedness of the different levels of analysis (from the family to the world system) as well as the importance of a diachronic and macro-structural approach.

EN:

The actor concept, implicit in former social thought, has become explicit in contemporary studies on international life. It is even more pronounced in the realistic and systemic analysis. The reevaluation of the function of the state underlines the meaning and purpose of relations between nations. Answers vary according to the theoretical rationale.

EN:

Theoretical studies of foreign policy show that the very subject of the discipline is highly undefined. This is the reason why we shall try, first and foremost, to provide an answer to three fundamental questions. Is there a natural difference between foreign policy and decision-making, or is foreign policy only a sum total of decisions? Is there a difference between a foreign policy which dictates the major general trends and the various policies which apply to restricted scenes of action ? What is the difference between the objectives which actors assign to various policies and their implementation in the international System, thus making their evaluation a problem ?

We then deal with the state of studies entered upon by three schools of thought and set down the results registered by the behaviorist trend, the theoretical dilemma it had to face and the dead end it led to. The second trend, historical and political, has, for its part, dealt with comparative analysis of historical cases according to the method of localized and structured comparison. Finally, the third trend, historical, economical and structuralist, has resorted to the world System paradigm of I. Wallerstein. The problem of this paradigm is the transposition of the debate between the supporters of the Annales school (structural serial history, economical and social contingencies) and the historians of international relations (who favour history of events and the role of the state). This approach also focuses on the debate about the dichotomy international relations/transnational relations. In the ends, rigorous and interdisciplinary research studies is deemed necessary for the promotion of studies in foreign policy.

EN:

Concentrating on "the how of International Relations", this article deals in its first half with three major issues in scientific methodology : 1) importance of the scientific mode in acquiring and transmitting knowledge, and also rendering it more policy-relevant; 2) methods of forecasting international events and their evaluation; 3) different routes to theory-building : induction, deduction, analogy, gaming and computer simulation. The second half of the paper substantiates this methodological survey by presenting some findings from the Correlates of War Project that has been going on at the University of Michigan for two decades. The emphasis is on the rigorous identification of the phenomenon (War) and on the presentation of data on different factors at different levels of analysis correlated with its incidence.

EN:

This last paper in the volume tries to pull the threads together and to detect trends of evolution in the analysis of international relations. The discussion is limited to three issues deemed basic to this evolution: 1) the increasing g importance of technology and its impact on the world System, and especially on one of its basic components: the nation-state ; 2) contents and characteristics of the new industry of futurology ; and 3) the rise of political economy as a basic approach to the study of international relations. It is suggested that we are growing beyond such simplistic divisions as "High" and "Low Politics", and obsession with methodologism per se, and that we are increasingly putting rigor and interdisciplinarity in the service of analysing "substantial" issues of international relations.