Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, 2nd Edition

10 Reflexive inquiry

Rahel Kunz

DOI: 10.4324/9781003108016-12

Introduction

International Relations (IR) was notoriously awarded the ‘dubious honor of being among the least self-reflexive of the Western social sciences’ (Frost in Lapid 1989: 249–250). Since, a rich literature on the notion of reflexivity in IR has emerged, most notably in connection with the Third Debate and the ‘(auto-)ethnographic turn’ in IR (e.g., Ackerly & True 2008; Guillaume 2002; Neufeld 1993). Yet, in a more recent assessment, Hamati-Ataya (2013: 670–671) suggests that the ‘reflexive turn’ has failed to ‘make a decisive impact on the discipline’ and to develop into a ‘sustained research programme or “paradigm”’. While others have written about the (non-)contributions ...