Bridging the Theory-Practice Divide in International Relations - Paperback

by Daniel Malinak (Editor), Susan Peterson (Editor), Ryan Powers (Editor)

How and when can international relations (IR) scholars influence policymakers and policy? Beyond the Influence Gap offers unique answers to these vexing questions. The structure of this book is designed to foster both introspection and conversation across the academic-policy divide. The scholars in this volume reflect on what research can offer to policy in eight distinct IR subfields--human rights, the environment, foreign aid and development, trade, finance and money, interstate conflict, intrastate conflict, and nuclear weapons and strategy. Each scholars' chapter is followed by a response from a policy practitioner about the nature and size of the gap and their impressions of scholarly impact. This book is also unique because it seeks to move the conversation beyond anecdotal evidence about the gap and questions of incentives and methods within the academy. The academic contributors to this volume use data gathered over a fifteen-year period by the Teaching, Research & International Policy Project about the perceptions and attempts of IR professors to offer policy-relevant scholarship. The book finds that the gap is not insurmountable and that certain issue areas are more open to scholars' input than others.

Back Jacket

Political Science / International Relations

"Bridging the Theory-Practice Divide makes a unique contribution by offering scholars of international relations insightful pathways to translate basic research into forms accessible and relevant to practitioners. . . . This important book provides a constructive way forward."--Robert Gates, former secretary of defense and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

"An interesting dialogue between twenty-three academics and policymakers explores the gap between theory and practice in eight fields of foreign policy."--Joseph S. Nye Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor, emeritus, Harvard University

"An extraordinary window into how each community thinks about the opportunities and challenges involved in producing policy-relevant research across core issue areas in the field of international relations."--James Goldgeier, codirector, Bridging the Gap Project

In this groundbreaking conversation, leading academics and practitioners reflect on the nature and size of the theory-practice divide, finding the gap varies by issue area and over time. Contributors use data gathered by the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project over a fifteen-year period. The essays, which include perspectives from both academics and policymakers, analyze the structural factors that affect the academy's ability to influence policy across key issue areas--finance, human rights, development, environment, nuclear weapons and strategies, interstate war, and intrastate conflict--as well as the professional incentives that affect scholars' capacity to do so.

Bridging the Theory-Practice Divide in International Relations provides answers and guidance about how and when scholarship can be policy relevant.

Daniel Maliniak is an assistant professor of government at William & Mary.

Susan Peterson is the Wendy and Emery Reves Professor of Government at William & Mary.

Ryan Powers is an assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs.

Michael J. Tierney is the George and Mary Hylton Professor of International Relations at William & Mary.

Contributors: Paul C. Avey, Dimitri G. Demekas, Michael C. Desch, Scott Edwards, Peter D. Feaver, Michael G. Findley, Jessica F. Green, Thomas Hale, John R. Harvey, Sarah Kreps, Marc A. Levy, Daniel Maliniak, Edward D. Mansfield, Sarah E. Mendelson, Amanda Murdie, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Susan Peterson, Jon C. W. Pevehouse, Ryan Powers, Steven Radelet, Christina J. Schneider, David A. Steinberg, Michael J. Tierney, Jessica Weeks, Joseph K. Young, Robert B. Zoellick

Author Biography

Daniel Maliniak is an assistant professor of government at William & Mary.

Susan Peterson is the Wendy and Emery Reves Professor of Government and International Relations and codirector of the Global Research Institute, both at William & Mary.

Ryan Powers is an assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs.

Michael J. Tierney is the George and Mary Hylton Professor of International Relations and codirector of the Global Research Institute, both at William & Mary.