INR 202 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS II MIDTERM TAKEHOME EXAM
The Sentences quotes below are from Stephen Gill and Alexander Wendt respectively:
“Within the writings of Marx a theoretical emphasis was on the idea of an integral, historical
society, the analysis of which implied the rejection of reductionism inherent in 'objectivist
materialism, mechanicism and empiricism . . . in order to reach a truly realist attitude which is
self-consciously a product of thought.”
“The rationale begins with positivism's assumption of a distinction between subject and object.
Such a distinction is relatively easy to sustain if the objects of inquiry are material, like rocks and
trees, and perhaps even tanks and aircraft carriers, since these do not depend on ideas for their
existence. Tanks have certain causal powers whether or not anyone knows it, just as a tree falling
in the forest makes a sound whether or not anyone hears it. This seems to line up a materialist
ontology with a positivist epistemology, and indeed most materialists in IR are positivists.
Conversely, it is harder to sustain the subject/object distinction if society is ideas all the way
down since that means that human subjects in some sense create the objects their theories purport
to explain.”
In each of them there is a critique of a particular epistemology: Positivism. Moreover these
critiques also address a particular IR theory: Realism. Although these two approaches (Gill’s and
Wendt’s) in these quotes seem to agree on many points they are distinct approaches to IR. In this
study you are asked to make a comparison of two approaches. To achieve this task:
1.
Give a brief summary of their approach. Including their:
a. Assumptions
b. Key Concepts
c. General view/hypotheses/theory: What happens and why does it happen so?
2. What are the historical circumstances they refer while structuring their approaches?
3.
Sketch their views on
a. Agent structure interaction
b. Ontology epistemology interaction(which one is first according to their view)
c. Their views on first order second order reality
d. Constitution of ideas (Gill) Construction of reality (Wendt) distinction.
4. Compare their critical views on Realism (in IR)
5. Compare their understanding of realism (in philosophy)
The introduction, Gill’s chapter and Cox chapter in Gill’s book and related chapters in Wendt’s
book, Finnemore and Sikkink’s article and also Smith’s introductory chapter in “Positivism and
Beyond” offers an adequate amount of information for answering the question. However, if you
feel it is necessary to use different references you are free and welcomed for doing so. Yet, please
state your references.
Your answer should be no more than 5 pages double space and 12 fonts.