Orders and scientists emperors: the tension between production and accreditation in the discipline of International Relations.

Abstract

Like all social space, the discipline of International Relations can be identified as a force field marked by power struggles. Consequently, all scientific production is related to an accreditation process, that is, a process by which the performances of the actors and their products -call them concepts, laws or theories- are contrasted with the parameters of the field. This paper argues about the way in which international relations manage this tension between scientific production and accreditation.