August 30th Reading

In our reading for August 30th ("The Dialectics of World Order: Notes for a Future Archaeologist of International Savoir Faire" by Hayward R. Alker, Jr. and Thomas J. Biersteker), the two authors use the perspective of a future archaeologist to determine the biases in American universities and course listings with respect to the "IR Triad," a term used for classifying three approaches to the study of International Reltions (traditional, behavioral science, and dialectical). Their contention is that American professors put too much emphasis on realism while neglecting idealist and dialectical perspectives, and they conduct something of a small-sample literary census to prove their point. In this study, their results show that their reading lists are, in fact, the most cosmopolitan of all the lists they studied. While this might hint to some bias in their research, I am willing to take them at their word that their reading lists offer the most balanced view of world politics. However, I am then left wondering if a "balanced view" is what American students should expect from their professors.

Professors, by nature, have gone through many more years of education and work in academia than have their students. From this experience in academic settings and situations of practical application, they will find that some approaches are more useful or helpful than others in explaining different situations. If that professor was to pass on to his or her students information or approaches that he or she did not find to be useful in explaining different situations, it would be a waste of the professor's time and the student's money.

That is not to suggest that a completely parochial perspective is the best.

However, in some situations it is best to just study what is applicable to the real-world situation and move on. For example, in studying Hitler's invasion of Poland, I would expect that my professor would handle the realist approach and perhaps even the neo-realist viewpoint. I don't see how a Marxist-Leninist approach could effectively or accurately summarize exactly what was happening at that time in international affairs.

I would like to add that through the IR department at Lehigh, I have been exposed to many different approaches to International Relations and often have covered many in the same class period to discuss the same topic. I don't feel that my education here has been parochial at all.