This article utilizes data from the 2022–2023 Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) survey, which features a sample of 176 scholars in Turkey and 979 in the US, to explore how IR scholars in both countries conceptualize their disciplinary identity, select research methods, engage with policy, and navigate academic recognition. Framed by how scholars in semiperipheral contexts relate to disciplinary cores, the study investigates whether Turkish IR reveals convergence with or divergence from global disciplinary norms. The findings highlight enduring divides: Turkish scholars demonstrate a stronger preference for qualitative, applied, and regionally focused research, whereas their American counterparts operate in a more pluralistic and post-paradigmatic scholarly environment. Nevertheless, there are signs of convergence, particularly in the increased engagement of Turkish scholars with international publications and leading theoretical approaches. This hybrid positioning highlights the fundamental contradictions within the Global IR agenda, namely the tension between inclusion and hierarchy, and between adaptation and autonomy. The article contributes to existing literature by offering a comparative, data-driven analysis of how disciplinary divisions and partial convergences influence knowledge production in different geopolitical contexts.
Aydın et al. (Fri,) studied this question.