International Relations as a Social Science. This is the name of the working group. But what does it mean? The name is composed of two concepts that are polysemous and for which there is no real agreement about their meaning, and at the same time we all have some intuitive ideas about what these terms imply.
‘International relations’ refers to the study of all that occurs in the world. However, what we put behind it varies a lot depending if we are a realist, a liberal, a feminist, a constructivist, a positivist, etc. The same goes for ‘social science’ – the study of interactions between individuals and their environment. Just as for IR, there are plenty of definitions possible. The way we conceive IR and social science has repercussions on how we study phenomena related to these fields. Our understanding of these concepts also impacts the way we do our research (from the data we use (and if the word data itself is appropriate), the method we employ, the actors we look at, etc).
To better understand what ‘IR as a social science’ means and to think about all the potential this expression offers, the IR as a Social Science Working Group has organised a series of conferences which will see well-established scholars talk about their understanding of IR as a social science. Every month a guest speaker will give us their understanding and perspective on the term.
For the November event we are pleased to have Dr Rafael Bittencourt as our speaker who will talk about IR as a space of reproduction of colonialities.
Registration will close two hours before the event begins.