Abstract
Recent assessments by ‘behavioralists' and others in international politics underscore the lack of quantity and/or quality of theories. While the value of established explanatory scientific theories is indisputable, the justification for clinging to this ideal in international politics no matter what turns up in the course of considerable empirical research merits close scrutiny. Disciplines progress as their students continually evaluate the explanatory structures fields do support. Modes of research then follow epistemological sensibilities rather than being forced Procrustes-like into predetermined models. Two suggestions are advanced here. The first is a study of the inference warrants in the field that effectively explain. The second is visualizing a continuum extending from science to technology, thereby heightening awareness of how many phenomena in the field can profitably be analyzed with reference to relatively more technological forms.
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