Aims & Scope

Aims

The International Journal of Politics and International Relations (IJPIR) aims to publish rigorous and original scholarship that advances understanding of politics, political institutions and processes, international relations, and global governance. The journal seeks contributions that make a clear theoretical, empirical, conceptual, methodological, or normative contribution to relevant scholarly debates.

IJPIR provides an international forum for research from diverse intellectual traditions, regions, and methodological perspectives. It welcomes work that develops or tests theoretical arguments, introduces new empirical evidence, revisits established debates, advances conceptual or methodological approaches, or connects political and international analysis to significant contemporary and historical questions.

Scope

The journal’s scope is broad within political science and international relations. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Political Theory and Political Thought Political ideas, ideologies, democratic theory, political philosophy, theories of justice, power, authority, legitimacy, citizenship, and the historical development of political thought.
• Comparative Politics and Political Institutions Comparative political systems, state institutions, legislatures, executives, courts, elections, political parties, democratisation, authoritarianism, governance, public administration, and institutional change.
• International Relations and Global Politics Theories of international relations, interstate relations, international order, power, cooperation, competition, global and regional politics, and the political consequences of cross-border processes.
• Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Security Foreign-policy analysis, diplomacy, strategic studies, international and regional security, defence policy, conflict dynamics, peace and security, and changing forms of state and non-state power.
• International Organisations and Global Governance International and regional organisations, multilateralism, global institutions, international regimes, transnational governance, regional cooperation, and the politics of international rule-making and implementation.
• Conflict, Peace, Human Rights, and International Law Armed conflict, peacebuilding, conflict resolution, humanitarian politics, human rights, international justice, and international legal questions where they make a substantive contribution to political or international analysis.
• Political Economy and Public Policy Domestic and international political economy, development, inequality, trade, finance, economic governance, public policy, regulation, welfare, and the political dimensions of economic change.
• Transnational and Interdisciplinary Politics Migration, climate and environmental politics, technology and digital politics, political communication, social movements, identity, global health governance, and intersections between politics and fields such as economics, sociology, law, history, and cultural studies.

Scholarly and Methodological Approach

IJPIR is open to qualitative, quantitative, comparative, historical, mixed-method, theoretical, conceptual, and other appropriate research designs. The journal does not privilege a particular theoretical school, methodology, region, or level of analysis. Single-country or locally focused studies are welcome where they develop a broader analytical argument, contribute to a relevant scholarly debate, or generate insights of significance beyond the immediate case.

Interdisciplinary submissions are welcome when the central research question and contribution remain clearly relevant to political science, international relations, or global governance. Policy relevance may strengthen a manuscript, but publication decisions are based primarily on its scholarly contribution, analytical quality, and fit with the journal’s scope.