ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Maghroori explores three definitional debates that have shaped the field of international relations since it emerged as a distinct discipline over sixty years ago. The realist-idealist debate of the interwar period focused on the means of maintaining world order–power politics versus collective security. The traditionalist-behavioralist dialogue of the 1950s and 1960s addressed methodological questions, but in the late 1960s a third debate arose that continues this day. It involves "realists"– those who conceptualize world affairs in terms of power politics–and "globalists"–those who argue that political and economic interdependence and integration are transforming international politics.
