International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

state theory (or political theory) and interstate theory (later International Re-
lations theory) comprise part of these historical processes of the formation 
and development of the modern state and the modern states system since the 
17
th
century. Scholars have demonstrated that both the state/states system and 
theoretical reflection about this state and the states system are historically of 
European origin. 
In this unit, the arguments developed in Unit 1 on the core subject of IR 
(the modern state and international relations in the modern states system) will 
now be linked to the arguments about the scientific study of this core subject 
in the academic discipline of IR (as developed in step 1.2. of unit 1 and in 
unit 2). This will be done through historical reflection on the idea of science 
in European history – the same way we reflected before on the core subject of 
the discipline (the modern state and the modern states system) and on the 
theory of interstate relations. In short, we will take up the arguments on the 
European origin of IR’s core subject and on the theory of interstate relations 
by embedding them in a broader discussion of the historical emergence of the 
(European) idea of science in (European) philosophy. What we in the aca-
demic disciplines consider to be the “object” of our scientific study, our ideas 
of how to study this object, and which methods we should apply to that study 
are all culturally and historically embedded in overarching orders of thought. 
A deeper understanding of theory building in IR therefore requires an 
awareness of the interconnectedness of these processes. Consequently, it al-
so requires readers to risk separating the discussions on the core subject of 
the discipline from the theories about the core subject and the general idea 
of science underlying those theories. In brief, any study of “IR theories” as a 
separate subject is incomplete when divided from its underlying history and 
philosophy of science. This broader discussion will finally help us to under-
stand where we derive the assumptions as the “starting points” of theory 
building and the specific theoretical constructions found at the heart of IR 
theories.

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The overarching cultural and historical embeddedness of the idea of sci-
ence will be discussed by using the notion of a “world view”.