The conduct of inquiry in international relations: The view from graduate school

Jackson’s book, The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations, is most likely to be assigned or recommended in graduate classes addressing the philosophy of science, qualitative methodology, and research design. It might then be useful to ask two graduate students whether this is a good idea. How helpful is yet another book on the meta-theoretical status of International Relations? Our answer to this question has four parts. First, we ask whether and how Jackson’s ordering scheme clarifies debates in IR. Second, we discuss the consequences of the scheme for understanding the state of research in IR. Third, we outline the prescriptive consequences of the scheme for graduate students and our own research. Finally, we present three limitations on the usefulness of Jackson’s book to budding scholars.