Devin Resources and Applied Methods in International Relations

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-61979-8
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Wasserzeichen (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 199 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy

This book constitutes an up-to-date methodology reference work for International Relations (IR) scholars and students. The study of IR calls for the use of multiple and various tools to try and describe international phenomena, analyze and understand them, compare them, interpret them, and try to offer theoretical approaches. In a nutshell, doing research in IR requires both tools and methods-from the use of archives to the translation of results through mapping, from conducting interviews to analyzing quantitative data, from constituting a corpus to the always touchy interpretation of images and discourses. This volume assembles twenty young researchers and professors in the field of IR and political science to discuss numerous rich and thoroughly explained case studies. Merging traditional political science approaches with methods borrowed from  sociology and history, it offers a clear and instructive synthesis of the main resources and applied methods to study International Relations. 

Guillaume Devin is Professor of Political Science at CERI Sciences Po, Paris, France.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Devin, Guillaume

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;6
2;Contents;10
3;List of Figures;18
4;List of Table;20
5;Part I: Preliminary Reflections Open for Discussion;21
5.1;Chapter 1: Describing, Representing, Interpreting;22
5.1.1;Description as a Phase of Research;23
5.1.1.1;A Rich Tradition;23
5.1.1.2;Description as Analysis;24
5.1.1.3;Description as Practice;25
5.1.2;Representation Through Artifacts;26
5.1.3;Interpreting;30
5.1.3.1;Explaining and Understanding;30
5.1.3.2;Meticulous Interpretation;31
5.1.4;Bibliography;36
5.2;Chapter 2: Constructing Subjects and Comparison in International Relations Studies;38
5.2.1;The Idiographic Approach and Its Limits;39
5.2.2;Nomothetic Comparison;42
5.2.3;The “Comparative” Method Contextualized;44
5.2.4;Conclusion;47
5.2.5;Bibliography;49
6;Part II: Discussing Some Resources and How to Deal with Them;50
6.1;Chapter 3: Consulting Foreign Affairs Archives in France and America;51
6.1.1;French Archives;52
6.1.2;American Archives;55
6.1.3;Advice Regarding How to Deal with Diplomatic Documents;57
6.1.4;Bibliography;59
6.2;Chapter 4: Taking Images Seriously, How to Analyze Them?;60
6.2.1;Constituting a Visual Documentary Corpus;62
6.2.2;Identifying the Image Production Chain;63
6.2.3;Letting Images “Speak for Themselves”;64
6.2.3.1;Semiological and Aesthetic Methods;64
6.2.3.2;The Cognitive Method;65
6.2.3.3;The Iconographic Method;66
6.2.4;Measuring How Images Are Circulated and Received;67
6.2.4.1;Evaluating Spatial and Media Dissemination;67
6.2.4.2;Describing How Images Are Received;68
6.2.5;Conclusion;69
6.2.6;Bibliography;73
6.3;Chapter 5: Imagining and Representing the Spatial Aspect of Actors and Societies;74
6.3.1;A Short History of the Social Uses of Cartography;75
6.3.1.1;Knowledge and Ancient Points of Reference;75
6.3.1.2;Medieval Beliefs;75
6.3.1.3;Navigating and Territorializing;75
6.3.1.4;Administrating;75
6.3.1.5;Iconizing;76
6.3.1.6;A Tool for Mobile Individuals;76
6.3.2;Cartography and Social Sciences;76
6.3.2.1;From Vidal to the Quantitativists;76
6.3.2.2;Elsewhere in the Social Sciences;77
6.3.2.3;Semiology of Graphics;78
6.3.3;Production Chain;78
6.3.4;Representing Mobility: Stock or Flow? The Example of International Migration;79
6.3.4.1;What Does the Data on Migration Indicate?;79
6.3.4.2;Scale Levels and Their Interpretations;80
6.3.5;Determining the Rate and Geography of French Arms Exports;83
6.3.5.1;Data on the Military Industry: The Domain of Think Tanks;83
6.3.5.2;Units of Account and Time;84
6.3.6;The Value of Maps in International Relations Research;87
6.3.6.1;Defining the Theme/Subject and Identifying/Framing It;87
6.3.6.2;Data Searching, Preliminary Processing and Validating the Hypotheses;88
6.3.6.3;Formatting for Postdoctoral Drafting and Publishing;88
6.3.7;Bibliography;90
6.3.7.1;The History of Representations;90
6.3.7.2;Graphic Semiology and Cartography Manuals;90
6.3.7.3;Books or Atlases that Include the Geo/Cartographic Dimension in Their Thinking;90
6.4;Chapter 6: The UN Internet Portal, Institutional Multilateralism Caught in the Web;91
6.4.1;“Page Under Construction”: Endowing the UN with a Virtual Identity;92
6.4.2;Assessing the Diversity of Resources Available;94
6.4.3;Finding Documents on the Site;97
6.4.4;Unweaving the UN Web Through Comparison;98
6.4.5;Bibliography;107
6.4.5.1;Websites;108
7;Part III: Going Out in the Field;109
7.1;Chapter 7: The Field Study;110
7.1.1;Tricks of the Trade in International Field Studies;113
7.1.1.1;Preparing;113
7.1.1.2;First Steps in the Field;115
7.1.1.3;Types of Participation: Potential and Limits on Choosing How to Access the Field;116
7.1.1.4;What to Observe?;117
7.1.2;Challenges in a Fieldwork;118
7.1.3;Conclusion;121
7.1.4;Bibliography;122
7.2;Chapter 8: Interviews in International Relations;124
7.2.1;Structural Constraints;125
7.2.1.1;Secrecy;126
7.2.1.2;Asymmetry;127
7.2.1.3;Languages;128
7.2.2;Interviews and Research Design;129
7.2.2.1;Identifying Respondents;129
7.2.2.2;Defining the Functions of the Interview;130
7.2.3;Interview Practices;131
7.2.3.1;Ways of Gaining Access and Self-Presentation;131
7.2.3.2;Observing, Questioning and Reacting;132
7.2.3.3;Using Interviews: Scientificity and Deontology Issues;134
7.2.4;Conclusion;134
7.2.5;Bibliography;136
8;Part IV: What Quantitative Methods Can Bring Us;138
8.1;Chapter 9: Examples of Quantitative Data Processing in International Relations;139
8.1.1;Premises and Position of Quantitative Methods in the Discipline;140
8.1.2;International Negotiations;142
8.1.3;Violence;143
8.1.4;International Institutions;145
8.1.5;Conclusion;149
8.1.6;Bibliography;152
8.2;Chapter 10: Multiple Correspondence Analysis in International Relations;153
8.2.1;A Dense and Conflict-Ridden Transnational Microcosm;154
8.2.2;Exploring Social Contexts Through MCA;156
8.2.3;Building Data on International Projects;157
8.2.4;The Security Context on Central Asian Borders;158
8.2.5;Conclusion;160
8.2.6;Bibliography;163
8.3;Chapter 11: On Words and Discourse: From Quantitative to Qualitative;164
8.3.1;Importing Lexicometric Methods;165
8.3.1.1;Tools for Analyzing Texts;165
8.3.1.2;Choosing and Preparing the Corpus;166
8.3.1.3;Limits;167
8.3.1.4;A Comparison of State of the Union Addresses by George W. Bush and Barack Obama;167
8.3.2;Importing Methods of Political Theory;171
8.3.2.1;The Exegetic Method of the Classics;172
8.3.2.2;The Analogical Method of Marxism;173
8.3.2.3;The Cambridge School Method of Historical Inquiry;174
8.3.3;Conclusion;176
8.3.4;Bibliography;178
8.4;Chapter 12: Classifying, Ordering, Quantifying;179
8.4.1;Understanding What Is Measured: The Necessary Detour Through Definitions;182
8.4.1.1;Conflict Databases;182
8.4.1.2;“Measuring Conflict”: What Are We Talking About?;182
8.4.1.3;Producing Knowledge About “Conflicts”;184
8.4.2;A Single Number: War and Peace Through the Prism of Composite Indicators;186
8.4.2.1;Statistical Projection of Theoretical Models;188
8.4.2.2;Producing and Diffusing Expertise;190
8.4.3;Conclusion;191
8.4.4;Bibliography;193
9;Index;195

1. Describing, Representing, Interpreting.- 2. Constructing Subjects and Comparison in International Relations Studies.- 3. Consulting Foreign Affairs Archives in France and America.- 4. Taking Images Seriously: How to Analyze Them?.- 5. Imagining and Representing the Spacial Aspect of Actors and Societies.- 6. The UN Internet Portal: Institutional Multilateralism Caught in the Web.- 7. The Field Study .- 8. Interviews in International Relations.- 9. Examples of Quantitative Data Processing in International Relations.- 10. Multiple Correspondence Analysis in international Relations.- 11. On Words and Discourse: From Quantitative to Qualitative.- 12. Classifying, Ordering, Quantifying.

Über Autor(innen)

Guillaume Devin
is Professor of Political Science at CERI Sciences Po, Paris, France.