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Acknowledgement:
1. Starting assumptions
2. with regard to form, definitions of "theory" depend on (logical) structure, range, and
(explanatory or predictive) performance of abstract constructs which are imposed on
a selected body of phenomena, objects, events, or processes (cf.Fig.2)
3. with regard to function, definitions of "theory" depend
on the particular task they fulfill in the process of
(scientific) discovery, perception, and knowledge
formation (cf.Fig.3).
genesis
Throughout the first fifty years of its existence, the
and development of I.R. theory was interpreted
largely in terms of a duopolistic development process,
between the world views of Realism on the one hand,
and liberal lnternationalism or ldealism (as the latter
tended to be called trom the 1920s onwards) on the
other (Olson/Groom 1991; Dunne/Cox/Booth 1998).
Relations - Theory and the Recasting of the
Enlightenment project