Causation in International Relations: Ontological and Epistemological Perspectives

Abstract

In the last years the issue of causation has gained momentum in the IR discipline. Both theoretically and empirically, causation is a key concept for IR scholars trying to explain the working of relationships that make action and events change in different ways. While causal relationships are often present in our theories and case studies, our understandings of causation are deeply rooted in our ontological and epistemological wagers, and there is a lot to learn from the dialogue between our knowledge positions in order to increase the utility of our causal understandings of the world. This panel aims to foster this dialogue and invites papers dealing with the ontological and epistemological dimensions of causation in the IR discipline, both addressing theoretical aspects related to the work of IR scholars who have written about this, and case studies that engage methodologies aiming at explaining causal relationships of some sort.