Where Have All the Theories Gone? Teaching Theory in Introductory Courses in International Relations

According to the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project, international relations faculty devote a great deal of time in their undergraduate introductory courses to the study or application of the major theories and paradigms of the discipline. Taking all of the twenty countries in the survey into account, faculty spend 24% of their course time on realism, 22% on liberalism, 13% on constructivism, 7% on feminism, and 11% on Marxism. This total of 76% indicates that the understanding of international relations theory is deemed an extremely important component of introductory courses by faculty. Ironically, these percentages do not exactly reflect the faculty members’ approaches to the study of international relations where 22% described constructivism as their primary approach, followed by realism at 16%, liberalism at 15%, Marxism at 4%, and feminism at 2%. Considering how much time professors indicate they spend on each theory as both teachers and scholars, do introductory international relations textbooks mirror this percentage? Ultimately, we seek to determine, through the use of content analysis, the extent of how international relations theory is presented in textbooks and make recommendations on how to improve the presentation and pedagogical methods of teaching international relations theory.