Week 1,3: Introduction and Development of the Field Flashcards
(114 cards)
Title: Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Evidence from a survey of U.S. national security, trade, and development outcomes
Author(s)?
Avey, Desch, Parajon, Petersen, Powers and Tierney
Avey et. al., 2022
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
This reading addresses what main issue?
Contemporary international relations (IR) scholarship is irrelevant to those charged with crafting and executing foreign policy.
Have policymakers taken advantage of this new “golden age” of academic engagement? How do conclusions about the gap change if we look beyond the issue area of national security?
To what extent do security, trade, and development practitioners respond to arguments made by IR scholars?
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
What makes this paper different from others?
Their two survey experiments represent, to our knowledge, the first causally identified evidence that policy practitioners will update their views in response to information about the views of IR scholars
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
What did the author(s) do to address this issue?
1) Conduct a survey of senior US foreign policy practitioners conducted in late 2017 and early 2018. Our survey included behavioral and attitudinal questions about whether, when, and how respondents view academics and use research in their work for the US government.
2) They included more and lower-ranking policy officials in the executive branch of the US government.
3) embedded a series of experiments in this survey, which allowed us to provide some of the first causally identified answers to outstanding questions in the bridging the gap debate.
4) broadened the conception of engagement to include engagement on social media, blog posts for consumption by policy elites, and IR scholars’ attempts to train future policymakers.
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
How did the author(s) address this issue?
Used the Federal Yellow Book to identify individuals employed in one of several dozen offices or agencies with responsibility for creating and/or implementing US trade, national security, or policy development during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama and mailed or emailed a recruitment letter, signed by a prominent former US government official (former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, for the security subsample and former President of the World Bank and former US Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, for development and trade) to all individuals for whom we secured contact. They asked respondents whether and how social science research is useful to their work, the academic and other sources of information they use in their work, and their opinion on a range of foreign policy issues
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
Why did the authors address this issue in this way?
TBD
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
What are the implications of this paper and their methodology?
TBD
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
What are my critiques?
TBD
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
What are the major findings of the paper?
1) Relative to scholarly articles—blog posts, commentary on social media, and TV or radio show reports are less useful to practitioners, 2) relative to a scholarly journal article, many common research outputs that are thought to be more useful to and consumable by policy practitioners (policy briefs, think tank reports, government reports, etc.) are no more or less useful to practitioners
They find that policymakers value academic research—especially scholarly, peer-reviewed articles—more than the conventional wisdom suggests, but security officials differ from their colleagues in other fields in their views on the utility of academic research.
In contrast to debates about the irrelevance of the academy relative to think tanks, practitioners are no more or less likely to view work as useful if it is authored by someone with a primary affiliation at a think tank
Does Social Science inform foreign policy? Avey et. al., 2022
How does this paper contribute the broader literature?
They demonstrate that policymakers seek scholarly expertise, and are responsive to it when experts agree on the effects of a policy proposal. Policymakers are not averse to more technical research methods, even if security practitioners see less utility in these methods than their colleagues in trade or development. Surprisingly, policymakers are more receptive to traditional modes of scholarly publication like books and articles than to blog posts and commentary on social media. We also see signs, however, that academic social science is still not providing what policymakers want, and not just in the security subfield
Title: The end of IR theory?
Author(s)?
Dunne, Hansen, and Wight
Dunne et. al., 2013
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
This reading addresses what main issue?
What kind of theoretical pluralism should IR scholars embrace? We offer a particular account of theoretical engagement that is preferable to the alternatives currently being practised: integrative pluralism.
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
What makes this paper different from others?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
What did the author(s) do to address this issue?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
How did the author(s) address this issue?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
Why did the authors address this issue in this way?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
What are the implications of this paper and their methodology?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
What are my critiques?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
What are the major findings of the paper?
TBD
End of IR theory? Dunne et. al., 2013
How does this paper contribute the broader literature?
TBD
Title: Rationalist Explanations for War
a. Author(s)?
James D. Fearon
Fearon, 1995
Rationalist Explanations for War, Fearon, 1995
This reading addresses what main issue?
War is costly and yet it still persist. There are three camps of arguments concerining war 1) People and state leaders are always irrational 2) Leaders enact war because they enjoy the benefits but dont actually incur the costs (soldiers and citizens do) 3) Rational leaders who consider the risks and costs of war still fight
Rationalist Explanations for War, Fearon, 1995
What makes this paper different from others?
Existing rationalist arguments don’t adequately explain what prevents leaders from reaching ex-ante (prewar) bargains that would avoid the costs and risks of fighting. That is, other arguments give reasons as to why armed conflict might appear an attractive option to a rational leader, but Fearon shows why states are unable to locate an alternative outcome that both would prefer to a fight.
Rationalist Explanations for War, Fearon, 1995
What did the author(s) do to address this issue?
Fearon proposes that the reason why actors go to war is due to 1) private information about relative capabilites or resolve and incentives to misrepresent such information to gain a better deal which is not just a matter or miscalculation due to poor info but rather of specific strategic dynamics that result form asymmetric info and incentives to dissemble 2) commitment problems make rational states unable to arrange a settlement that both would prefer because one or the other has an incentive to renege on the terms 3) issue indivisibilities meaning that some issues by their very nature cannot be split