Limited IR: Why Are International Relations Not global?

• In Event: One of a Kind Meets the Ties That Bind Us

Abstract

Why is the study of International Relations not global? The study of IR is gaining popularity around the world. Sociological analyses have shown that IR is increasingly studied in various parts of the world. Still, North America and particularly the US remain the dominant center for establishing and developing the field’s theories, curriculum, methodology, scholarship and institutions. So far very few studies have focused on broadening, diversifying, and globalizing the study of IR. This article begins to fill this gap. We advance the hypothesis that teaching and practice of International relations very much depend on cultural contexts. In an analysis of the IR curriculum and in 4 countries (Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the US) between 2018 and 2020, employing content analysis, surveys, and in-depth interviews with scholars, students, and practitioners of IR, we demonstrate to what extent IR is perceived differently in North America, Middle East and post-Soviet area. A global view of IR is needed for our knowledge about world politics to capture the perspectives of those in the global South as well as the global North – and in between.

Authors

• Bulat Akhmetkarimov, Kazan Federal University

• Renat Shaykhutdinov, Florida Atlantic University

• Ramin Ahmadoghlu, Emory University