IR scholarship in Poland: the state of the discipline 25 years after the transition to democracy

Abstract

The paper discusses the state of International Relations (IR) in Poland. In the first part, it shows IR’s history, institutional conditions, and its level of internationalisation, particularly the influence of Polish scholars working in the West on the development of the discipline. In the second part, it offers a systematic empirical analysis of IR articles published from 2007 to 2012 in Poland’s top seven IR and political science journals concerning the areas that IR scholars work in, the theories and methods they apply, and their geographical areas of interest. The findings show that a descriptive approach dominates and that there are significant deficiencies in both the methodology (particularly quantitative methods) and the theory of IR. However, the Polish community of IR scholars is aware of these weaknesses and is undertaking organisational efforts aimed at improving the quality and status of IR scholarship in the country.