This study focuses on the contents of the syllabuses of scientific research methods and equivalent courses in International Relations (IR) graduate programs in Türkiye. The study aims at analyzing what the subjects in the syllabus are and which subjects are taught. To display the distributions, two categories were determined under the theme of methodology and method. The first is the “meaning of science, philosophy of science and methodology” category, which represents the more philosophical and theoretical dimension, and the second is the “research methods” category, which represents the more technical dimension. Among 133 graduate programs, 141 syllabuses were scanned, and 68 syllabuses were examined. The research was designed according to the case study within the qualitative research approach. The data collection method of the study is document analysis. The data analysis method is content analysis. According to the findings, it was observed that there was a concentration on the “research methods” category at a rate of 81% and the category of “meaning of science, philosophy of science and methodology” at a rate of 19%. It was seen that the subjects of data collection methods, research designs, and data analysis methods were mostly covered in the category of “research methods”. The mixed research approach is almost non-existent in the syllabuses. It was determined that there is a concentration on the meaning of science and positivism within the category of the meaning of science, philosophy of science and methodology. Critical realism, anti-positivism, and pragmatism are among the least covered subjects. As a result, it showed that the syllabuses were not up-to-date, and the philosophical and theoretical part of the method was not discussed in depth in the lessons. In the study, a syllabus for research method courses was presented. This syllabus proposal is considered to be a guide for bringing method courses up-to-date.
The discovery of oil in the Middle East affected the political, economic and social structure of states in the region, which have got oil. This case caused to the emerging of rentier states which gain a large part of their national income from oil export. In this article, it was examined by means of Rentier State Theory (RST) how Saudi Arabia protected its own political stability during the uprisings. Saudi Arabia is a rentier state because of the fact that a large portion of its national income is based on oil revenues. According to RST; Oil revenue is the most important factor, which affects administration, taxing and representation system, and opposition movements; and which provides continuity of the domestic policies. The uprisings have not occurred in Saudi Arabia due to this main factor and its effects. It is not expected any change in Saudi Arabia in the near future.
This study focuses on the core reading in research methods courses in International Relations (IR) postgraduate programmes in Turkey. The first section determines the core reading materials in the syllabi. In the second section, in order to thematically code these books, we create five categories: (1) General Research Methods, (2) Research Methods in Social Sciences (3) Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Research Methods, (4) Research Methods in Political Science (5) Research Methods in International Relations. The research was modelled/designed according to a case study conducted with a qualitative approach. The data collection method of the study is document review, while the chosen data analysis method is content analysis. The study analyses the contents of syllabi from 70 different module/course. Findings show that Social Sciences have the most methodology-related books with 37% of the books being relevant to research methods. Conversely, the study shows that this rate is at 1% for IR. The study concludes that discipline-specific method books are not chosen within the IR postgraduate programmes. Finally, the study recommends significant research methodology books to be included in the related IR syllabi.
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