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    1998 International Organizations and The Study of World Politics

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    International Organization and the Study of World Politics Peter J. Katzenstein; Robert O. Keohane; Stephen D. Krasner International Organization, Vol. 52, No. 4, International Organization at Fi Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics (Autumn, 1998), 645-685. Stable URL: bhtp:flinks,jstor-org/sici?sici~0020-8183% 28199823 %2952%3A4%IC645%3 AIOATSO%3E2.0.CO*IB2.G. Internatioual Organization is curcently published by The MIT Press, ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at htp:sseww jstor org/aboutiterms.html. ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you hhave obtained prior permission, you may aot download an entie issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and ‘you may use content in the ISTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use Please contact the publisher eegarding aay futher use ofthis work, Publisher contact information ray he abained at itp jor onaiournalsmitaesshe. Each copy of any part ofa JSTOR transenission must contain the same copyright tice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transtnission, ISTOR isan independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive ot scholarly journals. For more information regarding ISTOR, please contact suppom@jstor org. up:thvww itor. orgy ‘Sun Mar 20 06:43:58 2005 International Organization and the Study of World Politics Peter J. Katzenstein, Robert O. Keohane, and Stephen D. Krasner In this article we tell the story of the creation and evolution of a subfield, popularly known ag “IPE,” that has been closely associated with International Organization (10) for almost thisty years. Initially, IPE was defined by the topics that it investi« dated, such 28 trade, finance, raw materials polities, and multinational corporations. ‘Scholars associated with the field drew on economics and on a variety af existing Georetical orientations, notably realism, liberalism, and Marxism at the. systemic level, and Marxism, statism, and pluralis atthe domestic level, ‘Over time the boundaries of this subfield, as we define il, have been set less by subject matter than by theoretical perspectives, Whereas some research programs have relied heavily on economics, otters have distanced demselves both from the substantive conceras ofthat diseipline and the rationalism it represents. Since we ste seeking in this article co deseribe how theorizing about world polities 1s represented in FO evolved, we focus on IPE, rather than on the substantive issues of internationsl politcal economy with which ic began. We use the term intertional political economy when we refer 19 real-world connections between politics and economies: we use the term IPE when we refer ta the subfield of work, centered in 10 since 1971, that evolved ftom the study of international political ecanomy to analyze a variety of aspects of wotld politics. Like any narative, our story reflects the viewpoints of its authors; and since we played avole in these events, it inevitably reficts our own expetienecs and biases. As roted in the preface, we put ouc accouat forward as a perspective, not as a cananical representation of waat is most important, Furthermore, we make no claim that the Dunng the wecing ofthis ate me received long, tsoughfl, and deste contents on press eats, They were esomnausy Aepfl in laine ard equi acing the mtr ara Rae ae ‘tletng here, Several clleaphesffeced valuable orl coment sell We would o thane ezanuel ‘Raker, David Badin, Mare L Busch Benjmio J Cahen, Dead Dest, Iudth Goll, Pee: Come ‘ick, Stephan Haggard, Erast B. Haas, Par al, Rater lec, Miles Kater, Cates Kupenat, Dav Like, Rober: Liber, Henry Rau, Joseph Nye, MJ. Peterson, Sin Reich, Tharas Risse, ln Gets Rogge, Brice Rose, Kiron Skane, Arr Stein, fave Stee, Aecander E, Wendt, and Oest R ‘Young bearstisnal Organization 52,4, Sato 1998, pp. 645-685 {© 1994 by The TO Foundation and the Massactsets natu of Technelosy 646 _Incernational Organization evolving subfield of IPE encompasses the most important work that has been dame ia international politics over th las thirty years, Major research has been carted out on subjects such as war initiation, the “democratic peace,” and alliance polities, to mention only a few, Some theoretical orientations that have, been highly salient for the study of security, especially organization theory and cogaitive psychology, have been much less consequential for IPE. Studies gencrated by large-N statistical re search programs such 25 the Correlates of War project have not been prominent in the pages of 10. Since this article was written for an anniversary issue of 10, it seems appropriate to ground it in the major lies of work for which the journal became own, ‘Theory in our field has been thought of in a variety of ways, In this article we focus fn Ovo of its meanings: general theoretical orientations and specific research pra- grams. General theoretical orientations provide heutisties—they suzgest relevant variables and causal pattems that provide guidelines for developing specific research programs. Pobtical science is an eclectic discipline that finds many ofits most fruit fol ideas elsewhere, and many of the general theoretical orientations thet have been relevant for IPE, were borrowed from other disciplines, especially economics and sociology. Rationalis theories derived from economics, for instance, offer the follow- ing heuristic: if you have a puzzle, fosmalate it a6 problens fos rational actors with Loproblematically specified interests, competing ina situation characterized by scarce tesoutees, Consttuctivist theories, in cootrast, look to the humanities and sociology for insights into how “realty,” incinding the imterests thst partially constitute the identity of actors, is socially constructed. We argue ithe fourta section ofthe article that rationalism (encompassing both liberal arguments grounded in economics tiat enphasize voluntary agreement and realist arguments that focus on power and coer ion} and constiuetivism now pravide the msjor points of contestation for interna: tional relations scholershio. Specific research programs link explavatory variables to a set of outcomes, or dependent variables. What ace the effects of various distributions of power, or of democracy, of the propensity of stetes to fight wars? Under what conditions do internacional instictions actually promote cooperation? What institutional features of state-society relationships explain variations in the effectiveness of foreign eco- nomic policy? When such theories are cested with evidence, answers are propased— answers that are vietally always contested because ofthe difficulties of theory speci- fication, testing, and controlled statistical analysis that bedevil the nonexperimental sciences in general, and fields such as ours in particular. Genera! theoretical orientations—such as realisma, Marxism, liberclism, statism, pluralism, historical institutions, racional choice insttutionalism, and eonsiruc- tivism—tave been particularly prominent in the study of internacional relations, IPE is no exception. Such generic approaches do not disappezs easily. They provide sug- gestions about celevant variables and thei possible itezzelationships but are consise {cat with many specific rescarch tasks and clusters of testable hypotheses. We refer to these sets of tasks and hypotheses as specific research programs, without necessatily The Study of World Potities 647 accepting ire Lakatos’ philosophy of science as applicable to our field! The coo nection between generic orientations and research progrants mans thatthe iptellec- sual staading of geveric orientations is affected, though aot entirely determined, by empirical evidence. As acesult of cosfiontation with evidence, and also due te shifts in World polities itself, some hypotheses, ad the researeh programs in which they were embecided, nave received more support than otters. Generic orientations that shellered productive programs benefited at the expense of competitors: those that seemed (illuminate new developments in the world also gained adherents, Dissatis- faction with existing orientations and research programs, coupled with changes in the world, has created openings for alternative conceptualizations. Ths evolutionary process is often inreet and imperfect: there are no “‘cecisive expesiments" in inter national relations that discredit a research program much less a generic approsch that nas spasied research programs Front its inception IPE hss evolved two related though distinctive sites for re- search: tae international system and the interactions between domestic politics and intemational politcal economy. The fst site focuses atthe level ofthe intemational system. In the 1970s systemic scholarship on the international political economy able options, The astonishingly peaceful end of the Cold War and the collapse of tie Soviet Union ate not what a realist would have expected. Realism has not been silent, of course, The simplest explanation fr the end of the Cole Waris that Soviet power declined; the Soviet Union was a challenger that could no longer challenge. Predietions about relative changes in sate capability have rarely been incorporated into realist research programs, and tealiso did not predict this decline." Realist, specially Waltz, have emphasized the importance of nuclear weapons in altering the likelihood of war. With secure second-strike capability itis more evident now than at ‘aay other Gime ia human history that a conftict emong the major powers would re- duce the well-being af all states. At least sorne observers view this situation 2s a ‘change in the nature. of the international system itself, not just an alteration in the characteristics of individual states * From a realist perspective, ina nonnuclear world it would have been match riskier forthe Saviet Union to abandon its empire in eastern Burope and for any leader to break up the Soviet Union itself, acts that would have left even Russia's core tesitory more vujnerable fo invasion Nevertheless, inthe 1980s analysts working within a realist framework were argue ing that bipolarty would continue. And they assumed that neither pole could disap peat peacefully. When the Soviet Union did collapse, xealists were skeptical about the rabusiness of interationsl institutions, especially those related to inteenationsl security, suci as NATO, and the prospects for continued cooperation inthe interta- tional economy, Over the lst decade things have turned out mach better than realists had any right o expect ‘The challenges to realism presented by the peaceful end of the Cold War were aggravated by the intellectual salience of neorealism as a specific research program Waltz’s most important contribution was to force analysts to make a fundamental distinction between what he called structural and reductionist arguments. Waltz was, of course, aware ofthe importance of domestic political factors, but he insisted that neotealism was concemed only with the distibution of power among states, States 5. See Leow 1994; and Sein 1984 3B. Wonlerth 1994, 90. Soe Wate 1950, and Snyder 1996 91, See Meatsimer 1990, and Wale 193, Se aluo Mearecioer 1934 apd the wibequont exchange tu eration! Seca 672. Tstemationsl Organization ‘were interested in security, not in expanding their power. Treating all sates as if the intemational lations goals were the same was a departure from caflicr realist discus sion, onuch of which had been based on the assertion that it was necessary to distin- suish between revisionist and status quo statcs.%? The conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States was consistent with both a strictly neorealist analysis (the poles in 2 bipolar world would be in conflict) and with realist arguments that posited the importance of exogenously given variations in state objectives (2 evision- ist Soviet Union would be in conflict with a status quo United States. With the end of the Cold War, neotealism offered less purchase on intemational

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