‘Breakthrough’ Works – Revisiting the Essentials: A Symposium Series in the BJPIR
| DOI | 10.1177/1369148118794889 |
| Date | 01 February 2019 |
| Author | Alan Convery,John Peterson |
| Published date | 01 February 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Introduction |
research-article2018
Introduction
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
‘Breakthrough’ works –
2019, Vol. 21(1) 3 –4
© The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
revisiting the essentials: a
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148118794889
DOI: 10.1177/1369148118794889
symposium series in the BJPIR
journals.sagepub.com/home/bpi
John Peterson and alan Convery
Before the University of Edinburgh became institutional home to the BJPIR, we brain-
stormed about how we could expand the journal’s audience by commissioning innovative
work, especially research that would be widely used in teaching. One of our (proposed, at
the time) Consultant Editors – Charlie Jeffery – told us, ‘you’ve got to find a way to get
breakthrough work into the BJPIR’. It became a lesson in how, sometimes, one word can
fire imaginations and inspire a move that yields essential academic work.
The move under our editorship is to commission ‘Breakthrough’ articles: in any
area of political science/international relations, given the BJPIR’s commitment to
publish cutting edge work in any area of our discipline.1 Breakthrough articles feature
top or up-and-coming scholars revisiting and reflecting on seminal works after they
have made their mark and generated new debates. Breakthrough articles become the
anchor for symposia, as we ask scholars who have been part of those debates to
reflect (briefly) on the breakthrough work and how it has changed our understanding
of our subject.
There seems no one better qualified to contribute our first breakthrough article than
G. John Ikenberry (2001). His book After Victory is certainly one of the most impor-
tant and essential works to be published in this – or any other – century in the study of
international relations (IR). Any student of IR would understand what a colleague
means...
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