The Problem of Scientific Progress and Major Schools of Thought in Contemporary International Politics Theory

Abstract

This article represents a preliminary attempt at evaluating major theories of or approaches to international relations. It bases its assessment of the state of international relations theorizing primarily on Laudan's pragmatic synthesis of competing ways of measuring scientific progress. In so doing, it not only clarifies the key variables of their causal connections within, and thus the strengths and weaknesses of each of the major theoretical works, but also unravels the central underlying, if not entirely value-free, assumptions of those purported theories.