Selecting Explanatory Level in International Politics: Evaluating a Set of Criteria

Abstract

Mouritzen, H. Selecting Explanatory Level in International Politics: Evaluating a Set of Criteria. Cooperation and Conflict, XV, 1980, 169-182.

A scheme of analysis for mapping and evaluating explanations of international politics and foreign policy is established. It is discussed how selection of explanatory level is - and should be — constrained by certain characteristics of our explanatory object (our explanan dum) : its degree of abstraction, its level, its recurrence (singular/semi-recurrent/recurrent), its extension (spatial and/or temporal) and its changeability (degree of change or state of affairs). The nature and significance of the relationships between each of these attributes of explanandum and explanatory level are discussed one by one. It is argued that the relationships are neither logical, nor necessarily descriptive (i.e. describe how a number of researchers actually frame their explanations). They contain a prescriptive element, based on (1) certain general characteristics of international politics (of an empirical nature), and (2) certain formal relationships. The results are summarized in a typology of 16 explananda within the discipline of international politics. For each type, an empirical illustration is offered, and it is indicated which explanatory levels can probably be excluded (the relationships are not strong enough to give 'positive' indication of a certain explanatory level). In this way, we may be advised where we should not start our search for explanatory factors, given our concrete explanandum at hand.