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2021 | Book

Harvey Starr: Pioneer in the Study of Conflict Processes and International Relations

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About this book

This book sets out, through Starr’s personal story, his interest in how the ideas of “intellectual trajectories” and “political memories” could be incorporated into intellectual autobiography, thus exploring how the personal lives of individual academics intersected with their professional interests. By following the development of his approach to research, interdisciplinarity, the logic of inquiry, and the opportunity and willingness framework scholars and researchers will see how his groundbreaking research in Conflict Processes and International Relations Theory developed and were interlinked (especially diffusion, geography and spatiality; the democratic peace and integration; decision making). In addition, graduate students and junior faculty should find useful hints about how to navigate their way through the complexities of becoming both a professional and successful academic and scholar.
• This book provides the most complete treatment of the work and contributions of Harvey Starr, a former President of the International Studies Association.
• Important for contemporary students of international relations, and their understanding of IR theory and methods.
• Demonstrates an eclectic linking of theoretical, logical, and empirical approaches to the study of IR—providing a critical logic of inquiry to do research.
• Provides insights and blueprints for how to develop interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary scholarship, highlighting geography and social-psychology.
• Affords graduate students and recent Ph.D.s guidance in the development of research, becoming a professional, and the choices to be made in one’s academic career.



Table of Contents

Frontmatter

On Harvey Starr

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Getting from Then to Now: A Personal Intellectual Autobiography
Abstract
Those readers familiar with my scholarship will not be surprised that I begin with some personal context. From my work based within, and emerging from, the opportunity and willingness theoretical framework, through the foundations of the Most and Starr logic-of-inquiry research program, and my writings on geography and spatiality, context has been a consistent theme. As any grad student who took classes from me can tell you, the Most and Starr goal of uncovering what theories/hypotheses/frameworks will work under what conditions was central to the study of the relevance and applicability of any theoretical formulation.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 2. A Selected Bibliography of the Publications of Harvey Starr
Abstract
War Coalitions: The Distribution Of Payoffs And Losses (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1972).
Harvey Starr

Texts by Harvey Starr

Frontmatter
Chapter 3. Cumulation from Proper Specification: Theory, Logic, Research Design, and ‘Nice’ Laws
Abstract
Jim Ray has set out a challenge to students of international conflict: how can we improve our research to do better in the cumulation of knowledge and understanding of international phenomena? While most of the commentary in this special issue revolves about more technical statistical issues, the questions that Ray raises must also be addressed not just on statistical/methods grounds, but within the context of broader theoretical concerns and theoretical specification. That is the aim of this article. Drawing on the concept of the “research triad” of logic, theory, and methodology presented by (Most and Starr in Inquiry, logic and international politics. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 1989), this article will stress the relationship of theory to the development of research designs that will permit both the additive and integrative cumulation of knowledge. This article will discuss how statistical model specification can be informed by broader principles of research design, demonstrating how Ray’s basic points are supported by earlier, complementary, and converging lines of argument.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 4. Opportunity, Willingness and the Diffusion of War, 1816–1965
Abstract
Using borders and alliances as indicators of opportunity and willingness, respectively, we test the relationship between these and the diffusion of war during the 1816–1965 period.
Randolph Siverson, Harvey Starr
Chapter 5. Democratic Dominoes: Diffusion Approaches to the Spread of Democracy in the International System
Abstract
This article is an attempt to indicate how diffusion approaches, based on the concepts of linkage and interdependence, can be of help in our thinking about the spread of democracy. The analyses address the existence or absence of diffusion effects in regard to changes in the degree of freedom in the world’s governments, and whether or not there has been a more specific global movement towards democracy. The dependent variable is the set of “governmental transitions,” based on yearly Freedom House data. Diffusion analyses are at the global, regional, and neighbor-state levels (1974–1987). Thus analysis is limited to cues or prototypes from the external environment of states. Although neighbor effects are less than those found with the diffusion of war, all three levels support the proposition that there has been a diffusion of governmental transitions, including a movement towards democracy that provided a context for the dramatic events of 1988 and 1989.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 6. On Geopolitics: Spaces and Places
Abstract
The study of international relations sits at the convergence of human inquiry that crosses both time and space.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 7. Opportunity, Willingness and Geographic Information Systems: Reconceptualizing Borders in International Relations
Abstract
This article reports on a continuing project which has developed a major reconceptualization and revision of how borders may be seen and measured through the use of GIS. Using the data layers of the ARC/INFO GIS system, a new dataset has been developed which allows analysts to talk about the specific qualities of borders in terms of opportunity and willingness, that is, the ease of interaction and salience, respectively (This text was first published as: “Opportunity, Willingness and Geographic Information Systems: Reconceptualizing Borders in International Relations,” Political Geography, 21 (2002) 243–261. The permission to republish this text was granted by Elsevier). The theory and method behind this reconceptualization is described. The results are represented both in visual terms—maps—and through the use of a quantitative dataset which lets us go beyond simply observing the number of borders a state possesses, whether or not a border existed between two states, or the length of that border. The dataset is presented and discussed, as well as preliminary analyses of the borders of conflict dyads from three separate conflict datasets. The basic ‘interaction opportunity’ model that underlies the opportunity and willingness framework is supported.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 8. Democracy and Integration: Why Democracies Don’t Fight Each Other
Abstract
While a large and growing literature has emerged which investigates the impact of the expansion of democracy on foreign policy and international politics, much of it has been characterized by insufficient attention to theoretical and conceptual clarity.
Harvey Starr
Chapter 9. The Kissinger Years: Studying Individuals and Foreign Policy
Abstract
Henry Kissinger’s memoirs, White House Years, constitute an important addition to the extant literature on the former Secretary of State.
Harvey Starr
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Harvey Starr: Pioneer in the Study of Conflict Processes and International Relations
Author
Harvey Starr
Copyright Year
2021
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-78907-7
Print ISBN
978-3-030-78906-0
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78907-7