International Relations and Area Studies
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786100200303 |
| Date | 01 April 1961 |
| Published date | 01 April 1961 |
| Author | George Modelski |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
143
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
AND
AREA
STUDIES
THE
CASE
OF
SOUTH-EAST
ASIA
GEORGE
MODELSKI
REA
Studies
have
in
the
past
decade
become
an
increasingly
prominent
feature
of
scholarly
enterprise
and
investigation.
In
the
same
period
the
study
of
International
Relations
has
made
equally
noteworthy
advances.
The
present
article
examines
certain
connexions
between
these
two
strands
of
development:
it
stresses
the
importance
of
area
studies
for
International
Relations
and
the
contribution
which
students
of
the
latter
may
make
to
the
work
of
area
specialists;
and
drawing
on
the
author’s
experience
of
teaching
and
research
iri the
international
politics
of
South
East
Asia
it
argues
the
distinctive
character
of
the
International
Relations
approach
to
the
study
of
regional
affairs.
The
significance
of
Area
Studies
for
International
Relations
has
never
been
underestimated.’
Hence
my
first
point
is
not
altogether
novel:
International
Relations
needs
Area
Studies.
But
it
may
not
be
irrelevant
to
recall
that
students
of
International
Relations
may
benefit
from
Area
Studies
in
at
least
two
ways.
First,
the
close
study
of
an
area
affords
the
most
favourable
conditions
for
the
close
examination
of
concrete
international
processes
and
brings
the
investigator
into
the
closest
possible
contact
with
all
the
factors
materially
bearing
upon
these
processes.
The
international
system,
no
longer
essentially
European,
has
become
so
complex
that
a
general
survey
of
international
politics
can
no
longer
cover
other
than
sup~erficially
its
many
particular
yet
important
problems.
By
restricting
investigations
to
one
area
it
becomes
possible
to
study
a
limited
number
of
problems,
but
in
a
thorough
fashion,
with
regard
to
a
segment
of
the
international
system
by
collecting,
ordering
and
analysing
a
unique
body
of
useful
information.
For
instance,
a
general
survey
of
world
politics
could
not
consider
in
detail
a
foreign
policy
of
any
but
two
or
three
world
powers;
regional
specialisation
permits
intimate
acquaintance
with
the
international
outlook
of
a
number
of
the
smaller
yet
important
powers
such
as
Indonesia,
Thailand
or
Cambodia.
Secondly,
area
studies
may
serve
as
the
starting
point
for
examin-
ing
certain
theoretical
propositions,
as
opportunities
for
testing
such
propositions
or
even
as
launching
points
of
new
theoretical
inquiries.
Thus
Indonesian
foreign
policy
might
deserve
study
not
only
for
its
unique
features
but
also
for the
suggestions
it
offers
with
regard,
for
instance,
to
the
stability
of
&dquo;
blocs
&dquo;,
the
viability
of
non-alignment,
or
the
role
of
the
middle
power.
1
See
for
instance
Grayson
Kirk
The
Study
of
International
Relations
in
American
Colleges
and
Universities
(New York:
Council
on
Foreign
Rela-
tions
1947)
pp.
46-8;
also
H.
J.
Morgenthau
Dilemmas
of
Politics
(Chicago :
Chicago
University
Press
1958)
pp.
88
ff.
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