The networks and niches of international political economy

Abstract

We analyze the organizational logics of how social clustering operates within International Political Economy (IPE). Using a variety of new data on IPE publishing, teaching, and conference attendance, we use network analysis and community detection to understand social clustering within the field. We find that when it comes to publishing and intellectual engagement, IPE is highly pluralistic and driven by a logic of 'niche proliferation'. Teaching IPE, however, is characterized by a 'reduction to polarity' that emphasizes a dualism in ontological and epistemological frames. In the face of competitive exclusion pressures, intellectual communities regenerate themselves by constructing niches while simultaneously nodding to a common tradition.

Progress, pluralism and science: moving from alienated to engaged pluralism

“…Cohen (2014Cohen ( , 2019 and Paquin (2016) have recently documented the wide array of 'schools' of IPE, breaking free from the American-British binary divide and demonstrating a much wider array of scholarship than is often depicted. Seabrooke and Young (2017) have also offered evidence for pluralism at work, demonstrating that when it comes to published research in journals, there is more diversity than what the standard binary depictions would suggest. The fact that RIPE, which was founded to advance not just IPE research but specifically heterodox IPE (Amin et al, 1994) is one of the most prominent journals in all of international relations and political science scholarship is also indicative of this pluralism.…”

“…The fact that RIPE, which was founded to advance not just IPE research but specifically heterodox IPE (Amin et al, 1994) is one of the most prominent journals in all of international relations and political science scholarship is also indicative of this pluralism. The range of journals that publish IPE scholarship is also much more diverse than most believe it to be, spanning not only 'IR' journals, political science and sociology but also development studies and economics journals as well (see Seabrooke & Young, 2017). To be sure, many interventions have indicated ways in which IPE could be more pluralistic than it currently is (e.g.…”

Las Empresas Transnacionales: Un punto de encuentro para la Economía Política Internacional de América Latina

“…Es decir que la división entre estas escuelas como eje organizador de la epi no prevalece en el mundo de las publicaciones pero sí domina en el aula. En la participación en conferencias, la lógica es más compleja, si bien los autores señalan que hay una tendencia en el tiempo a una creciente proliferación de nichos de epi (Seabrooke & Young, 2017).…”

Climate change and international political economy: between collapse and transformation

“…First, it has simply been a relatively marginal concern within IPE to datea blind spot in terms of 'what we focus on', in the terms set out by the editors of this Special Issue (LeBaron et al, this issue). This is amply demonstrated by Seabrooke and Young (2017), Katz-Rosene (2019) and Green and Hale (2017). Second, and more importantly, IPE's blind spot regarding climate change is that it has failed to come to grips with two absolutely fundamental shifts in climate politics in the last decade and what it means for the theory and practice of IPE.…”