What does the field of International Relations look like in South America?

Medeiros, Marcelo de Almeida; Barnabé, Israel; Albuquerque, Rodrigo; Lima, Rafael

doi:10.1590/0034-7329201600104

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Artigos • Rev. bras. polít. int. 59 (01) • 2016 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7329201600104 linkcopy

What does the field of International Relations look like in South America?

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This article provides a comprehensive picture of IR in South America by applying content analysis to 7,857 articles published in 35 journals from six South American countries from 2006 to 2014 in order to discover what the predominant theories, methods and research areas in this field are, how scholars tend to combine them in their research designs, and what the profiles of regional journals are, regarding their epistemological, methodological and subject preferences. The findings reveal a predominantly Positivist and largely Qualitative discipline, resembling North American and European IR.

Keywords:
Theory of International Relations; South America; Academic production; International Relations Teaching and Research; Content analysis.

COUNTRIES	JOURNALS	N. DOWNLOADED ARTICLES	% OF TOTAL ARTICLES	N. ARTICLES W/MATCHING TERMS	% OF TOTAL ARTICLES
ARGENTINA	TEMAS Y DEBATES	125	1.59%	59	1.62%
	REVISTA SAAP	110	1.40%	60	1.64%
	CICLOS HIST. ECON. SOC.	35	0.45%	23	0.63%
SUBTOTAL	3	270	3.44%	142	3.89%
BRAZIL	ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS	561	7.14%	148	4.06%
	REV. ESTUDOS FEMINIST.	448	5.70%	103	2.82%
	REV. ECONOM. POLÍTICA	352	4.48%	118	3.23%
	CADERNO CRH	336	4.28%	130	3.56%
	REV. DE SOCIOL. E POL.	318	4.05%	154	4.22%
	VARIA HISTORIA	300	3.82%	59	1.62%
	HISTÓRIA	299	3.81%	67	1.84%
	REV. BRAS. CIÊNC. SOC.	292	3.72%	98	2.69%
	SOCIOLOGIAS	283	3.60%	102	2.80%
	DADOS	257	3.27%	118	3.23%
	ECONOMIA E SOCIEDADE	227	2.89%	104	2.85%
	REV. BRAS. POL. INT.	223	2.84%	220	6.03%
	LUA NOVA	215	2.74%	102	2.80%
	REV. DE ECON. CONTEMP.	180	2.29%	71	1.95%
	CONTEXTO INTERNAC.	147	1.87%	145	3.97%
	BRAZ. POL. SCI. REVI.	97	1.23%	59	1.62%
SUBTOTAL	16	4535	57.72%	1798	49.29%
CHILE	POLIS	540	6.87%	205	5.62%
	REVISTA DE CIENCIA POL.	270	3.44%	172	4.71%
	UNIVERSUM	231	2.94%	68	1.86%
	ESTUDIOS INTERNAC.	151	1.92%	118	3.23%
	SÍ SOMOS AMERICANOS	101	1.29%	58	1.59%
SUBTOTAL	5	1293	16.46%	621	17.02%
COLOMBIA	REV. ESTUDIOS SOCIALES	281	3.58%	99	2.71%
	CIVILIZAR	196	2.49%	89	2.44%
	ANÁLISIS POLÍTICO	180	2.29%	136	3.73%
	INTERNATIONAL LAW	172	2.19%	151	4.14%
	INVESTIG. Y DESAROLLO	160	2.04%	72	1.97%
	REV. REL. INT. ESTR. Y SEG.	157	2.00%	135	3.70%
	COLOMBIA INTERNAC.	154	1.96%	105	2.88%
	DESAFÍOS	142	1.81%	85	2.33%
	PAPEL POLÍTICO	105	1.34%	98	2.69%
SUBTOTAL	9	1547	19.69%	970	26.59%
URUGUAY	REV. URUG. CIENC. POL.	89	1.13%	59	1.62%
SUBTOTAL	1	89	1.13%	59	1.62%
VENEZUELA	CUADERN. DEL CENDES	123	1.57%	58	1.59%
SUBTOTAL	1	123	1.57%	58	1.59%
TOTAL	35	7857	100.00%	3648	100.00%

THEORY	NO. MATCHING TERMS	NO. CASES	% CASES
LIBERALISM	10421	1139	31.22%
REALISM	9937	982	26.92%
CONSTRUCTIVISM	5444	467	12.80%
POST-MODERNISM/POST-COLONIALISM	2721	435	11.92%
MARXISM	8702	424	11.62%
CRITICAL_THEORY	2191	368	10.09%
ENGLISH_SCHOOL	3734	357	9.79%
FEMINISM	1532	152	4.17%

THEORY	ARGENTINA	BRAZIL	CHILE	COLOMBIA	URUGUAY	VENEZUELA
CONSTRUCTIVISM	7.10%	11.54%	9.31%	10.94%	10.61%	6.25%
CRITICAL_THEORY	11.48%	8.79%	8.97%	6.64%	22.73%	9.38%
ENGLISH_SCHOOL	3.83%	10.31%	6.38%	6.56%	4.55%	7.81%
FEMINISM	4.37%	2.84%	2.93%	4.75%	3.03%	3.13%
LIBERALISM	26.23%	26.00%	26.55%	26.55%	27.27%	26.56%
MARXISM	13.66%	8.70%	10.34%	10.63%	6.06%	15.63%
POST-MODERNISM/POST-COLONIALISM	14.21%	9.93%	10.86%	9.13%	12.12%	10.94%
REALISM	19.13%	21.89%	24.66%	24.81%	13.64%	20.31%

	NO. MATCHING TERMS	NO. CASES	% CASES
QUALITATIVE_ANALYSIS	645	226	6.20%
QUANTITATIVE_ANALYSIS	390	176	4.82%
MIXED_METHODS	144	55	1.51%
FORMAL_MODELS	24	15	0.41%

	ARGENTINA	BRAZIL	CHILE	COLOMBIA	URUGUAY	VENEZUELA
FORMAL_MODELS	0	3.32%	4.00%	2.68%	10.00%	0
MIXED_METHODS	18.75%	6.22%	10.00%	18.12%	20.00%	50.00%
QUALITATIVE_ANALYSIS	37.50%	52.28%	46.00%	44.97%	40.00%	0
QUANTITATIVE_ANALYSIS	43.75%	38.17%	40.00%	34.23%	30.00%	50.00%

	NO. MATCHING TERMS	NO. CASES	% QUALI CASES
HISTORICAL_ANALYSIS	378	152	67.26%
DISCOURSE_ANALYSIS	171	50	22.12%
ETNOGRAPHY	62	25	11.06%
HERMENEUTICS	33	13	5.75%
ANALYTIC_DESCRIPTION/NARRATIVE	4	4	1.77%

	ARGENTINA	BRAZIL	CHILE	COLOMBIA	URUGUAY
ANALYTIC_DESCRIPTION/NARRATIVE	7.69%	0.28%	0	0	16.67%
DISCOURSE_ANALYSIS	23.08%	29.48%	26.47%	20.25%	16.67%
ETNOGRAPHY	15.38%	11.02%	0	12.03%	8.33%
HERMENEUTICS	0	2.20%	14.71%	4.43%	25.00%
HISTORICAL_ANALYSIS	53.85%	57.02%	58.82%	63.29%	33.33%

	NO. MATCHING TERMS	NO. CASES	% QUANTI CASES
STATISTICAL_METHODS	156	44	25.00%
CONTENT_ANALYSIS	40	13	7.39%

	NO. MATCHING TERMS	NO. CASES	% CASES
INSTITUTIONS_AND_INTERNATIONAL_REGIMES	15892	1878	51.48%
REGIONAL_INTEGRATION	21891	1585	43.45%
SECURITY_STRATEGY_DEFENSE	20556	1270	34.81%
INTERNATIONAL_LAW	9128	1044	28.62%
FOREIGN_POLICY_ANALYSIS	10570	1000	27.41%
HISTORY_OF_IR_AND_FOREIGN_POLICY	289	132	3.62%

	ARGENTINA	BRAZIL	CHILE	COLOMBIA	URUGUAY	VENEZUELA
FOREIGN_POLICY_ANALYSIS	19.25%	15.27%	15.20%	12.46%	12.50%	12.77%
HISTORY_OF_IR_AND_FOREIGN_POLICY	4.18%	2.38%	1.63%	1.18%	1.25%	0
INSTITUTIONS_AND_INTERNATIONAL_REGIMES	28.03%	27.64%	28.33%	24.88%	38.75%	37.23%
INTERNATIONAL_LAW	10.46%	12.31%	13.03%	21.42%	10.00%	11.70%
REGIONAL_INTEGRATION	22.59%	24.10%	25.52%	19.76%	20.00%	27.66%
SECURITY_STRATEGY_DEFENSE	15.48%	18.31%	16.29%	20.28%	17.50%	10.64%

		THEORIES				METHODS
		CONSTRUCTIVISM	CRITICAL_THEORY	ENGLISH_SCHOOL	FEMINISM	LIBERALISM	MARXISM	POST-MODERNISM/POST-COLONIALISM	REALISM	FORMAL_MODELS	MIXED_METHODS	QUALITATIVE_ANALYSIS	QUANTITATIVE_ANALYSIS	FOREIGN_POLICY_ANALYSIS
THEORIES	CONSTRUCTIVISM	-	89	105	42	284	107	118	266	3	16	71	38	241
	CRITICAL_THEORY	89	-	60	29	178	101	87	154	2	7	45	23	97
	ENGLISH_SCHOOL	105	60	-	31	195	78	65	180	2	7	43	27	155
	FEMINISM	42	29	31	-	94	54	56	73	1	11	35	17	69
	LIBERALISM	284	178	195	94	-	325	241	619	14	37	146	107	599
	MARXISM	107	101	78	54	325	-	146	263	3	17	87	41	191
	POST-MODERNISM/POST-COLONIALISM	118	87	65	56	241	146	-	198	4	17	86	35	130
	REALISM	266	154	180	73	619	263	198	-	9	28	130	83	522
METHODS	FORMAL_MODELS	3	2	2	1	14	3	4	9	-	2	3	6	5
	MIXED_METHODS	16	7	7	11	37	17	17	28	2	-	14	9	22
	QUALITATIVE_ANALYSIS	71	45	43	35	146	87	86	130	3	14	-	30	99
	QUANTITATIVE_ANALYSIS	38	23	27	17	107	41	35	83	6	9	30	-	74
	FOREIGN_POLICY_ANALYSIS	241	97	155	69	599	191	130	522	5	22	99	74	-
AREAS	HISTORY_OF_IR_AND_FOREIGN_POLICY	34	13	32	14	88	46	26	94	0	2	39	11	112
	INSTITUTIONS_AND_INTERNATIONAL_REGIMES	318	167	205	94	811	268	230	641	9	41	131	115	680
	INTERNATIONAL_LAW	213	127	147	84	546	197	171	472	5	33	101	80	457
	REGIONAL_INTEGRATION	245	129	174	73	654	217	154	523	4	26	93	84	648
SECURITY_STRATEGY_DEFENSE	299	155	209	116	785	344	245	702	11	37	165	126	654

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Centro de Estudos Globais da Universidade de Brasília Centro de Estudos Globais, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília - DF - 70910-900 - Brazil, Tel.: + 55 61 31073651 - Brasília - DF - Brazil
E-mail: rbpi@unb.br

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[TFN1] Source: Elaborated by the authors.