International Political Theory and Its Critics

... known as “-isms,” but also theory as such (including mid-level theorizing). Conflict studies became an incubator of sorts, hatching that anti-theoretical movement. They have witnessed intense accumulation of vast statistical data and introduction of quantitative methods since the 1960s. Building upon the extensive empirical testing, researchers concluded that theoretical explanations have limited worth in predicting future events. For example, Skyler Cranmer and Bruce Desmarais ascertained that,...