Methodological process ethics in international theory

Abstract

In this review essay, I identify a commonality between Patrick Thaddeus Jackson’s The Conduct of Inquiry and Daniel J. Levine’s Recovering International Relations: an ethical methodological process to organize international theories in ways that promote a plurality of visions. Jackson’s ideal-typification of the various methodological approaches in international relations encourages a pluralistic science. Likewise, Levine’s constellation method demands a multiplicity of theoretical perspectives, in order to sustain the critical elements intrinsic to each. As I argue, this shared methodological process ethic not only advances theoretical pluralism but, in so doing, actively opens thinking space for constructing alternative political realities.