Theory and History in International Relations

A plea to scholars of global politics to turn away from the "manufacture" of data and to return to a systematic study of history as a basis for theory. While the modest use of empiricism is always important, Puchala rejects the logical positivism of the so-called "scientific revolution" in the field in favor of a more complex, even intuitive, vision of global politics. He addresses the potential uses of history in studying some of the major debates of our time.