ABSTRACT
What distinguishes scholars of International Relations (IR) from anyone else who discusses international politics? The difference is threefold. First, IR scholars rely on a scientific methodology. Second, they are self-conscious about their place in a theoretical tradition. Third, they are members of a scholarly community. This chapter will discuss these features of scholarly IR from historical and sociological perspectives to throw light on the nature of IR as a discipline.1 The chapter first argues that changes in the world trigger discussions in which scholars participate. It then presents an overview of the disciplinary history of IR, arguing that while scholars have discussed international relations for centuries, the field of IR only emerged with the establishment of a community of academics preceding World War I. This new field depended on scholarly institutions that evolved after World Wars I and II. The collapse of the USSR changed the world situation in major ways. It triggered new academic discussions and delivered major shocks to IR scholarship. Mechanisms of disciplinary change are elaborated at the outset of this chapter. New institutions brought together a community of scholars around World War I – institutions which facilitated scholarly interaction, standardized knowledge, and coordinated academic activities. The chapter then sketches the main lines of the development of IR through the twentieth century. It shows that the development of IR has often been affected by world events and illustrates the role that institutions have played in sustaining the evolving community of scholars. It shows in particular how an increasing interest in international relations evolved during the final quarter of the nineteenth century, spurred by revolutions in industrialism, politics, and education. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a scientific study of IR emerged as scholarly communities evolved along the North Atlantic Rim. The chapter argues that the “science of IR” was a product of the West – developed by Western scholarly communities and sustained by Western institutions; that the science of IR developed where scholarly communities and liberal institutions of education and research coexisted. It concludes that Western efforts to export IR may encounter challenges akin to those that have met efforts to export liberal democracy. Proper IR, like real democracy, requires a proper
public sphere. Whereas an interest in international relations may evolve anywhere, the science of IR will emerge only in societies where a public sphere is present. The science of international politics will thrive only in open societies whose rulers acknowledge citizens’ rights to freely discuss basic political issues and to establish independent unions and scholarly associations.
