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International Politics: Scandinavian Identity Amidst American Hegemony?
Author(s) -
Jönsson Christer
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1993.tb00035.x
Subject(s) - hegemony , negotiation , scholarship , politics , political science , international relations , identity (music) , position (finance) , political economy , identity politics , foreign policy , cold war , public administration , sociology , gender studies , law , economics , physics , finance , acoustics
International politics is often portrayed as a hegemonic discipline, dominated by US scholarship. Exploring the consequences of recent upheavals in world affairs for international politics research, the article suggests that the end of the cold war has exposed certain weaknesses in the US center which may be turned into advantages for the Scandinavian periphery. Specifically, Scandinavian researchers do not share the American preoccupation with theories predicated on bilateral and symmetrical relationships. Moreover, they are more prone to focus on subnational actors, they are more embedded in political science, they are generalists rather than specialists, their primary role is that of being observers rather than advisers, and they are in a better position to escape from the entrapment of an ahistorical current‐events approach. In conclusion, foreign policy analysis, negotiation studies, and research on international cooperation are singled out as areas where Scandinavians have been successful and where their relative success can be accounted for, at least in part, by an ability to capitalize on the comparative advantages identified.