departmental bulletin paper

Departmental Bulletin Paper

Text

国際公共政策研究. 2017, 22(1), p. 73-84

Toward the End of Inter-Paradigm Debates : Theoretical Synthesis of Grand Unified Model

大阪大学国際公共政策学会

English

Text

2017-09

Dissatisfied with the current state of the discipline of international relations to provide a solution for the prolonged inter- paradigm debates, this study seeks to merge theories to form a unified comprehensive theoretical framework, Grand Unified Model (GUM), through theory synthesis of existing paradigms. Selectively utilizing theoretical constructs embedded in contending research traditions, theory synthesis is expected to provide a persuasive solution. Specifically, this study develops main arguments as follows. First, a critical review of the three major research traditions, namely, neorealism, neoliberalism and constructivism is conducted to indicate that there are certain meta-theoretical deficiencies which undermine the results of those researches on the drastic transformation of the international environment. Then, by synthesizing modified assumptions of research traditions, a basic framework of GUM is constructed as a grand theoretical model. GUM is expected to be a comprehensive explanation of global phenomena set forth not in the state-centric but in the individual human-centric manner, contributing to theoretical improvement with regard to decision-making assumption, unit of analysis and epistemology. In light of the increasingly untenable nature of the traditional approaches, this study aims to demonstrate that theory synthesis has a potential to bring an end to the inter-paradigm debates.

10.18910/65095

65095

Toward the End of Inter-Paradigm Debates : Theoretical Synthesis of Grand Unified Model

Kosaka, Shunji

大阪大学国際公共政策学会

English

2017-09

国際公共政策研究

22

1

73

84

https://hdl.handle.net/11094/65095

10.18910/65095

https://doi.org/10.18910/65095