Great Debates (international relations)

In international relations theory, the Great Debates refer to a series of disagreements between international relations scholars.[1] Ashworth describes how the discipline of international relations has been heavily influenced by historical narratives and that "no single idea has been more influential" than the notion that there was a debate between utopian and realist thinking.[2]

  1. ^ Ken Booth, Michael Cox, Timothy Dunne,The eighty years' crisis: international relations 1919-1999, Issue 1, p1: "The story of international relations is conveniently told in a series of 'great debates'.
  2. ^ LM Ashworth, Did the Realist-Idealist Great Debate Really Happen? a Revisionist History of International Relations,International Relations, Vol. 16, No. 1, p31 (2002)