Translate this page:
Please select your language to translate the article


You can just close the window to don't translate
Library
Your profile

Back to contents

International relations
Reference:

Degterev D.A. The Conceptualization of International Relations: from the Metaphor and Analogy to the Model

Abstract: The subject of the study is the different levels of conceptualization of international relations - a metaphor, an analogy and a model. This article shows the role of metaphors and analogies in the process of scientific cognition of international relations, showing their limits and possibilities. The basic types of models of international relations, including the game-theoretical, econometric, simulation, network and others, are described. The author discloses various approaches to the study of international processes - as unique social phenomena or as subjects used for identification of common patterns. Analyzing the metaphors, analogies and models, the author gives special attention to their characteristics in the context of the laws of logic (inductive or deductive reasoning). The author gives the examples of true (positive), neutral, and negative (incorrect) analogies. Theoretical generalizations are illustrated by a significant number of practical examples from the field of international relations. Metaphor and analogy are not the models of international relations, in fact they are the pre-model forms of conceptualization of international relations. Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the importance and effectiveness of metaphors for the stimulation of a creative process on the initial stages of the analysis of international relations. Metaphor, helping intuitively imagine the phenomenon under consideration, is the first step towards formalized modeling. To harmonize the contradictions, contained in the metaphor, it is necessary to use the analogy, which is an intermediate step between imagination (intuition) and logical thinking. The model helps more accurately transfer the characteristics of international processes necessary for the solution of the problem under study.


Keywords:

system model, deductive logic, inductive logic, model, idiographic approach, nomothetics, formalized model, analogy, metaphor, international relations modeling


This article can be downloaded freely in PDF format for reading. Download article


References
1. O.V. Orlova Vospriyatie “chuzhoi” kartiny mira // Filosofiya i kul'tura. - 2010. - 5. - C. 86 - 90.
2. Gorokhov A.V. Formal'nyi sintez struktury imitatsionnoi modeli (na primere sinteza sistemno-dinamicheskikh modelei) // Programmnye sistemy i vychislitel'nye metody. - 2013. - 3. - C. 277 - 284. DOI: 10.7256/2305-6061.2013.3.8855.
3. I.A. Aseeva Mnogoobrazie i edinstvo prognosticheskogo opyta // Filosofiya i kul'tura. - 2010. - 6. - C. 8 - 13.
4. Degterev D.A. Komp'yuternoe modelirovanie mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii // Mezhdunarodnye protsessy, 2011. ¹ 3. S.53-66.
5. Degterev D.A. Degterev D.A. Setevoi analiz mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii. // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya 6. Politologiya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. 2015. ¹ 4.
6. Gates S. and Humes B. Games, Information and Politics. Applying Game Theoretic Models to Political Science. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1997.
7. Morton R. A Guide to the Empirical Analysis of Formal Models in Political Science. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
8. Rose A. 2007. The Foreign Service and Foreign Trade: Embassies as Export Promotion. // World Economy. Vol. 30. No. 1. P. 22-38.
9. Keohane R. The Demand for International Regimes // International Organization. Vol. 36, No. 2, International Regimes (Spring, 1982), pp. 325-355.
10. Snidal D. The Game Theory of International Politics // World Politics. Vol.38. No.1 (Oct., 1985). P.25-57.
11. Degterev D.A., Istomin I.A. Sistemnoe modelirovanie mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii// Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. 2015. ¹ 11, t. 59. S. 17-30.
12. Khrustalev M.A. Analiz mezhdunarodnykh situatsii i politicheskaya ekspertiza: ocherki teorii i metodologii.-M.: NOFMO, 2008. 232 c.
13. Gilpin R. War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition, 1983.
14. Waltz K. Theory of International Politics. Waveland Pr Inc; 1 edition, 2010.
15. Degterev D.A., Degterev A.Kh. Teoriya igr i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya // Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. 2011. ¹ 2. S.79-89.
16. Degterev D.A. Vvedenie v teoriyu igr dlya politologov i mezhdunarodnikov.-M.: MGIMO-Universitet, 2010. 92 s.
17. Hardin G. Lifeboat Ethics: A Case against Helping the Poor // Psychology Today, 1974. Vol. 8 (4), p. 38-43, 123-126.
18. Höhle S. Spaceship Earth in the Environmental Age, 1960-1990 (History and Philosophy of Technoscience, 4). – London: Pickering & Chatto 2015.
19. Hardin G. Living on a liveboat // Bioscience, 1974. Vol. 24 (10), p.561-568.
20. Buckminster F. Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. – New York: E.P. Dutton & Co, 1968.
21. Ward B. Spaceship Earth. – Columbia University Press, 1966.
22. Boulding K. The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth // In Jarrett H. (Ed.), Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. – Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966.
23. Griffiths M. Rethinking International Relations Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.-P.157.
24. Khudaikulova A.V. Sovremennye mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya: implikatsii novogo konteksta vzaimozavisimosti. – Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya. 2005, ¹ 6. S.172-176.
25. Wolfers A. A. Discord and Collaboration. Essay of International Politics. Foreword by Reinhold Niebuhr; Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1962. P.19.
26. Asal W., Fordham B. Billiard Balls or Snowflakes? Major Power Prestige and the International Diffusion of Institutions and Practices // International Studies Quarterly. Vol. 51, Issue 1, 2007, pp. 31–52.
27. Cederman L.-E. Modelling the size of wars: from billiard balls to sandpiles // American Political Science Review. Vol. 97, Issue 1. 2003. pp. 135-150.
28. Landau M. On the Use of Metaphor in Political Analysis // Social Research, Vol. 28, Issue 3, Autumn 1961, pp. 331-353.
29. Lewis P. Metaphor and Critical Realism // Review of Social Economy, 1996, Vol. 54, Issue 4, pp. 1470-1162.
30. Shabaga A.V. Istoricheskii sub''ekt v poiskakh svoego Ya. M.: RUDN, 2009. 524 s.
31. Sovremennye mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. Pod red. A.V.Torkunova, A.V.Mal'gina.-M.: Aspekt-Press, 2012.-688 s.
32. Bzhezinskii Z. Velikaya shakhmatnaya doska. — M.: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 2010. — 256 s.
33. Yazyk i modelirovanie sotsial'nogo vzaimodeistviya: Perevody/Sost. V.M.Sergeev i P.B.Parshin; Obshch.red. V.V.Petrova.-M.: Progress, 1987 g.-464 s.