Impact of Historical-Factualism and Interdisciplinary Research on Conceptual Analyses in International Relations Literature in Turkey

Abstract

This paper examines two basic concepts that affect conceptual analyses of international issues in Turkey: Historical-factualism and interdisciplinary research. Although both approaches are profoundly important for international relations studies, this paper points out their negative impacts on the scientific character of IR discipline in Turkey. These negative impacts are more prominent in cases where places and borders of these approaches are not precisely defined. This paper refers to epistemological and methodological differences between history and theory, and emphasizes that these fields are two different ways of producing knowledge. It also explains the ways in which both history and interdisciplinarism can make contributions to IR.

Keywords

IR Theory, IR History, Factualism, Historicism, Interdisciplinarism.

Citation

Kurubaş, Erol, “Impact of Historical-Factualism and Interdisciplinary Research on Conceptual Analyses in International Relations Literature in Turkey”, International Relations, Volume 5, Issue 17 (Spring 2008), pp. 129-159.

Affiliations

• Erol Kurubaş, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Kırıkkale University, Department of International Relations