Research Methods in International Relations

Christopher Lamont is Dean of E-Track’s International Relations program and Vice Dean of the Graduate School of International Relations at Tokyo International University in Japan. He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Glasgow. He was also a Fulbright fellow at the University of Zagreb and an RCUK postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ulster. His research interests are at the intersection of global governance, technology, and international justice. He is the author of Research Methods in International Relations, now in its second edition, published by Sage. He is also co-editor (with Arnaud Kurze) of New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice: Gender, Art, and Memory published by Indiana University Press in 2019, and Non-Western Visions of Democratization: Imagining Democracy after the Arab Spring (with Jan van der Harst and Frank Gaennsmantel), which was published by Routledge/Ashgate in 2015. His monograph, International Criminal Justice and the Politics of Compliance (Routledge/Ashgate 2010) explored the international and domestic politics of international criminal justice processes in the former Yugoslavia. In addition to his scholarly contributions, his writings have also featured in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Diplomat, among others.

A superb primer for those embarking on research in international relations.  The text outlines a range of approaches in a practical fashion, with references to the latest developments in theory as well as current affairs. Readers are taken through complex ideas about methods, the philosophy of knowledge and ethics with clarity, insight, and a nuanced appreciation of the value of different ways of going about inquiry in this field. Destined to become the ′go to′ manual for existing IR researchers as well as the first book to recommend for those starting a PhD.

• Chapter 1: Methodology and Methods in International RelationsChapter 2: Research Questions and Research DesignChapter 3: Research EthicsChapter 4: Writing a Literature ReviewChapter 5: Qualitative Methods in International RelationsChapter 6: Quantitative Methods in International RelationsChapter 7: Mixed Methods Research in International RelationsChapter 8: Fieldwork in International RelationsChapter 9: Interview Research in International RelationsChapter 10: Discourse Analysis in International RelationsChapter 11: Case Study Research in International RelationsChapter 12: Writing Up Your Research