Levels

Abstract

The term `level' is an integral feature of contemporary international relations discourse. Singer introduced levels of analysis as a methodological problem in 1961. Since then levels schemes have proliferated and talk of levels is pervasive. As formulated, the level of analysis problem is which level should we choose? With the proliferation of schemes, the problem is which scheme should we choose? This question raises others. Which scheme best represents the field? Does a field organized into levels faithfully represent the world it purports to study? Why do we even think in terms of levels? There is no simple answer to the question, which scheme? I offer instead a critical appraisal enabling us to explore all the questions that proliferating schemes bring to mind, an appraisal reaching far beyond the field and as far back as Aristotle: we are not alone in talking of levels.