A ＂Unified Theory＂ for IR Theories.pdfVIP

A “UnifiedTheory”forIeTheories A ‘U‘nifiedTheory’’forIR Theories LiuLiping ‘ Abstract：Thisarticleputsforwarda “unifiedfieldtheory”forinternationaI relations(IR)．ItfirstdividescurrentwesternIRtheoriesintohardandsoft categories，thenpointsoutconceptualfaIlaciesofthethreemajordebates in thehistoryofWestern IR theoriesbyusingthiscategorizationasan analyticalguide．Itfurtherassertsthatsuchacategorizationshouldhelp clarifythepresenttheoreticalchaosbypursuingaunified IR theoretical system ． A TangledW eb M e s vthaarniouosthesrchdoiosclsiploinfest，hiosugmhatr．keTdhrbeye mainstream theoriesstandout：realism，idealism nadconstructivism．Other schoolsworth mentioning rae liberalism，conservatism，behaviorism， hegemonicstability,peaceamongdemocracies，gma etheory,geopolitics， balanceofpowerna ddependencytheory,aswellasvariationssuchas neo．realism，structural，scientific，political，offensiveanddefensiverealisms． Anoff-shootofneo—conservatism nadhteiaw—breakingneo—neo-brandhave alsocomenitobeing． Toconfusehteissuefurther,somehteoriesuseseveraldifferentnma es forhtesamething．Forexample，post-behaviorism，po st-traditionalism and scientificrealism allrefertoneo．realism．0thertheories，likeliberalism andconservatism．delveinot raeasfra beyondhtescopeofnitemationa1 relations．Stil1othersusenamesborrowedfrom ohterdisciplnies．suchas gametheory,cognition，andDarwinism．Itisdifficultto saywhether ‘B‘alanceofPower’representsna nitegratedtheory byitselforissimplya conceptinrealism．NooneCna explainconvnicinglywhethersattements |LiuLipingiseditorofContemporaryInternationalRelations CIR Sept．／Oct．2009 LiuLiping such as ‘s‘tability comesfrom hegemony”or p‘‘eace prevails among democracies”aretruetheoriesoriustdescriptionsoflife．Inaword， Western IRtheoryappearstobea “catch-all”bagforeverything． Fiercedebate_～oftenintheofrm