While the Cultural Turn has brought attention to how IR has been less culture-blank than culture-blind, the prevalent culturalist alternatives appear culture-blinded leaving the study of international relations in a blind/blinded stalemate. This poses the question of which direction IR’s Cultural Journey should set for after the Cultural Turn. This volume summarises a PhD-project, which addresses this issue by providing a travel guide, a 'Baedeker', to this Cultural Journey. The project constitutes a 'grounded meta-study' that examines the (ir)relevance of cultural diversity to the study of international relations through a four-step examination working at a general and a Middle Eastern level. It provides an overview of where we come from; a better understanding of why we are situated where we are; an evaluation of possible future directions to go by and concludes by pointing at the nexus between IR and Area Studies as a neglected but promising path to follow.

Udgivet juni 2008