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Review of International Political Economy 16:1 February 2009: 6–33 The American school of IPE
BibTeX
@MISC{Maliniak_reviewof,
author = {Daniel Maliniak and Michael J. Tierney},
title = {Review of International Political Economy 16:1 February 2009: 6–33 The American school of IPE},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
This paper uses the results of the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) project: a multi-year study of the international relations (IR) field in order to discern the major characteristics of international political economy scholarship in the United States today. It finds that, like Benjamin Cohen’s depiction of the American school, IPE in the United States is increasingly positivist, quantitative, and liberal in orientation. It employs data from a journal article database that tracks trends in publication patterns. It also analyzes data from two surveys of IR scholars in the United States and Canada that were conducted in the fall of 2006. KEYWORDS IPE; liberal theory; journal rankings; American school; epistemology; methodology. In a keynote speech to the inaugural meeting of the International Political Economy Society (IPES) at Princeton University in November 2006, Benjamin Cohen argued that there were at least two distinct schools of thought that have adopted the moniker ‘IPE ’ (international political economy) – the ‘British school ’ and the ‘American ’ school. 1 According to Cohen, the intellectual evolution of the IPE field has produced an American school characterized by ‘the twin principles of positivism and empiricism ’ and a British school driven by a more explicit normative, interpretive, and ‘ambitious ’ agenda (Cohen, 2007: 198–200). These schools diverge in the ontologies, epistemologies and normative stances that each employs to study the same subject – ‘the complex linkages between economic and political activity at the level of international affairs ’ (Cohen, 2007: 197). In Cohen’s view, IPE is increasingly fractured along conceptual and geographical lines, yet the American and British schools remain complementary. As such, he ends his reflection on IPE’s transatlantic divide by calling
Keyphrases
american school international political economy british school benjamin cohen united state ir scholar journal ranking keywords ipe princeton university international policy ipe field distinct school normative stance liberal theory international relation keynote speech inaugural meeting journal article database publication pattern ambitious agenda complex linkage international political economy scholarship school diverge united state today moniker ipe major characteristic international political economy society geographical line twin principle transatlantic divide intellectual evolution multi-year study international affair cohen view political activity
