A Study Of Methodology Of Western International Relations Theory

Methodology is the logic of research method. It is the research philosophy that accumulates both from the theoretic creation of scholars and the process of academic development. On the whole, every mature theoretic school of western international relations has formed relative independent methodological system. As to the whole discipline, the methodological pattern of coexistence of dominant paradigm and competitive paradigm has emerged. In advancing the evolvement of substantial theory of western international relations and also the development of the discipline of International Relations, methodology plays a very important role.The paper can be divided into introduction, body and conclusion, amounts to 150,000 characters. Based on the comprehension and explanation of some original theoretic works of western international relations, the author described and analyzed the methodological system and its effect on the development of theory and the discipline. The content of the paper is as follows.At the beginning of introduction, the author defines some important conceptions such as methodology, substantial theory and also pointed out the significance of synthetic study the methodology of the western international relations theory. Then the author puts forward the original assumptions of the paper, that is, the basic function of methodology to the development of substantial theory. The introduction describes current research situation of methodology of international relations theory in academic circles and also tells us the framework, approach, important and difficult points of the paper. The key point of the introduction lies in the analyzing framework of the research, namely, by comprehensively applying the theory of philosophy of science such as the paradigm theory and scientific research program, analyzing the elements of methodology of western international relations theory and appraising the current situation of International Relations.The first part of the body explores the constitution of methodology from the general meaning. The paper defines the methodology as a whole entity in the dimension of content, form and logic. Among them, ontology, epistemology, research paradigm and specific research methods makes up the dimension of content, assumptions, models and paradigm the dimension of form, conceptions, propositions and inference the dimension of logic while variables is the central part of the dimension of logic. In themethodological system, the dimension of content, especially the ontology, epistemology and research paradigm are the emphasis of the research. The basic norm system posed in this part lays a foundation for the following research.The second part describes in detail the methodology of the mainstream schools of western international relations theory. Based on the explanation of some theoretic texts, the author disserts the specific research methods of the typical scholars and works belong to the school of realism, liberalism, behaviorism, English school and constructivism. Particularly, the author summarized and extracts the methodological elements of all the schools mentioned above exists as a whole. In this part, the description of the history of thought and the summary of the core of the methodology applied by the mainstream schools are the direct source of the author's core viewpoints and also the premise of the development of the following viewpoints.The third part generalizes the methodological system of the western international theory. In the three forms listed in this part, the author summarizes the description of the second part in the dimension of content, form and logic, expounds and compares the various elements of the methodological system, then points out some basic characteristics of western international relations. The basic assumption and core consensus shared by the western international relations theory are extracted after the author's summary and description, namely, the assumption of anarchy, the analytical unit of state-center, and the epistemology of rationalism, finally induced the dominant research paradigm of the discipline—rationalism. After the inducing of these core arguments, the paper puts emphasis on how methodology promotes the evolvement of western international relation theory and development of the discipline. The effect is reflected in three aspects, namely, the understanding of substantial theory, the scientific development of theoretic schools and the process of international relations becoming a dependent and mature discipline. The third part is the core of the whole paper.Based on the preceding generalization, the fourth part applies the theory of philosophy of science that has be revised and synthesized to observe the future development of international relations on methodology. In the author's opinion, the vitality of future international relations theory depends on the innovation of methodology. Despite the plight and crises confronted the rationalism, it still remains the dominant research paradigm of the international relations and is unlikely to be replaced fully by its challenger, constructivism. Essentially, constructivism is the reviser and supplement of...