Session 22: Utility of Multi-Method Research!

The main topic of theorists and political scientists in international relations is War and Peace since its evolution as a discipline where peace is the ultimate desire. The article “War and Peace” written by Jack S. Levy is another attempt which provides detailed analysis on this topic.

In his article, he talks about the factors that are correlated with war or frequency of war. For example the first part talks about how the frequency of war has been declining with the passage of time. In this regard, he discusses the correlation between frequency if war and weapon of mass destruction. With the advent of nuclear weapon, the frequency of war, at least inter-state wars, is decreased. Furthermore he uses multi-level framework constructed out of the three level of analysis as constructed by Waltz which provides us more holistic picture.

There are two dominating theory in International Relations, realism and liberalism that enriches this discipline. In this article he tries to show the utility of multi-methods research program. Firstly, he acknowledge that the main emphasize of realistic perspective on war is the anarchic nature of international system. In which states tends to build their military power for their security purposes and survival. Furthermore, he brings in liberals perspective according which put states in a dilemma of economic interests. Today, the economic interlinks and interdependence among states has become a giant web which provides reason for state to not go on war.

Towards the end of our semester, I finally find something which I always wanted to say about this discipline. It is very hard to explain each and every detail about any event in the history with a framework of one ideology. For example surely states are rational entities as claimed by realism and therefore, if two states are economically so much interdependent then cost-benefit analysis certainly urge them to stay peaceful as claimed by liberals. Every theory has sensible fundamentals and its critics as well. I think rather than criticizing each theory, it is better to appreciate and use every theory to understand IR in a more holistic manner.