Сравнительная политика (Jan 2022)
International and Regional Studies: Towards a «Seamless» Methodology of Analysis. Discussing the book: Logika novoy miroustroitel'noy arkhitektoniki i strategii derzhav (The Logic of the New World Architectonics and the Strategies of the Powers). Ed. by Alexei D. Voskressenski. Moscow: Strategicheskiye izyskaniya, 2021. 576 p.
Abstract
The paper is dedicated to the key methodological problems of international and regional studies and the prospects for the formation of a unifi ed, «seamless» methodology. The author's refl ections are illustrated by examples from the collective monograph, ed. by Alexei D. Voskressenski “The Logic of the New World Architectonics and the Strategies of the Powers” (2021). At the fi rst stage, the question of the levels of analysis in international studies is investigated with a special emphasis on the systemic level, as well as the practical diffi culties of decomposition of international political situations, taking into account the high density of social ties. The applied value of network analysis and event analysis is shown. The phenomenon of transregionalism, which is of great importance for international economic relations, is considered from a network point of view. Methodological tools for the analysis of trans-regional institutions are presented as well. Much attention is paid to the organismic concept of the general theory of the system and its adaptation to the IR system. The practical use of this concept in organizing situational analyzes of international processes is shown. The regional level of analysis and the place of the “middle-level powers” in the world system are revealed through the prism of an agent-structural “matryoshka” (nested model) – agent-structural problem at different levels ofanalysis. The limits and possibilities of application of the complexity theory in the analysis of IR are explored. Special attention is paid to the concept of complex interdependence of R. Keohane and J. Nye, which, according to the author, adequately refl ects modern IR and is the key to understanding the formation of zones of infl uence of great powers in world politics. Finally, the work reveals the normative component of IR theory and shows an increasing popularity of non-Western IR theories in the last few years. The normativity in regional studies is explored as well and particular cases of the application of non-Western approaches in regional studies are shown. The necessity of integration of non-Western approaches to IR theory and regional research is declared.
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