ABSTRACT
As one whose professional life exceeds that of ISA, I have mixed feelings about the invitation to reflect critically on the accomplishments, failures, debates, standards, approaches, and future agendas of international relations (IR) and its subfields. On the one hand, I have no doubt that our shared past is marked by enormous growth and progress. The conceptual and methodological equipment with which IR is probed today is far more elaborate, incisive, and diverse than was the case at the outset – back in the 1950s when a few isolated, non-Ivy-League scholars first came together around common interests to form a professional association, replete with a journal (called Background before being changed to the International Studies Quarterly) and with a membership so small that it convened annually on campuses because it was unable to reach the minimum registration required for reduced rates at hotels.
