Abstract

Two recent linked special issues on ‘blind spots’ in (international) political economy present a welcome challenge: to think more carefully about the topics to which (I)PE pays insufficient attention. I argue in this commentary that while these special issues make a compelling case for incorporating certain topics more centrally into (I)PE, their conceptualization of and approach to identifying ‘blind spots’ contain unrecognized tensions, ambiguities and exclusions. The special issues also share with most discussions of (I)PE research a consequential failure to treat (I)PE as labour done by humans who are usually university employees facing professional (dis)incentives that influence how and what they study. I conclude with concrete suggestions regarding how (I)PE scholarship might more effectively incorporate understudied topics and perspectives.

摘要

最近两个有关（国际）政治经济学“盲点”的特殊问题提出了一个受欢迎的挑战：更仔细地思考 (I)PE 没有充分关注的主题。我在这篇评论中争辩说，虽然这些特殊问题为将某些主题更集中地纳入 (I)PE 提供了令人信服的理由，但它们对“盲点”的概念化和识别方法包含未被识别的紧张、歧义和排斥。这些特殊问题还与大多数关于 (I)PE 研究的讨论都有一个共同之处，即未能将 (I)PE 视为人类所做的劳动，这些人通常是大学雇员，面临着影响他们学习方式和内容的专业（消极）激励。最后，我提出了关于 (I)PE 奖学金如何更有效地整合未充分研究的主题和观点的具体建议。