Causality in International Relations Theory: Why War, Why Peace?
What causes war? Why there is peace? Why there are inequalities in international relations? What types of institutions are more compelling to promote cooperation in the international arena? Such questions are fundamental to the study of international relations. However, before addressing them, it is primordial to understand the nature of the expected answers, the ontology, and epistemology of the explanations delivered by the theories. International Relations theories, are always trying to explain how the behavior of states, individuals, or other actors function in the international arena. Trying to find answers and patterns of behavior to predict future endeavors, theories base their fundamentals in history, human nature, or scientific approaches. Each theory uses distinct approaches to make sense of the causalities of the world. Causality is defined as the relationship between causes and effect. What factors or series of factors causes a determinate outcome? Theories explore different units of analysis, develop a particular focus and goals in their premises, study the means to reach their own goals, revise the dynamics on the international relations, which in conjunction has evolve in their own ontology that explains why the world works the way it does. Scholars have advocated causal modeling and related techniques. Ikenberry observes it is not a “recipe” or “a replacement” for strategy, rather it is about contextualizing specific events or topics, revealing how they are part of larger patters. The works of the most important academics on the field contain some kind of implicit or explicit prediction about the future development of the international system presuming that the social world presents certain patterns that can develop in an action with purpose. The discrepancies between the theories in their methods of investigation traditionally result in radically different from the world it wishes