Theory Talks started in 2008, out of a mix of frustrations. Its founder, Peer Schouten, was midway through an International Relations graduate degree that covered plenty of international law and formal diplomacy but very little theory — the ideas that actually explain why states, institutions, and people in world politics act as they do. Inspired by Harry Kreisler's Conversations with History interview series, Schouten pitched IR journals on running a recurring interview column with leading theorists. None were interested. So he built the platform himself.
The response from the field was immediate: scholars like Alexander Wendt and Robert Keohane supported the project before the site even existed. Over the next thirteen years, Theory Talks published 75 long-form interviews with realists, constructivists, feminist IR scholars, world-systems theorists, critical theorists, and everyone in between — from Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer to Cynthia Enloe and Saskia Sassen. The interviews became a fixture of IR reading lists and were cited widely in academic work.
The original site ran on Blogger. When that backend was retired, the interviews became difficult to find, even though people kept asking for them. This archive republishes all 75 talks — full text, original photos, and citation details intact — on a simpler, faster, more durable foundation.
Each interview page includes a ready-made citation. In general, cite as:
[Interviewer surname, initial] (Year) 'Theory Talk #[N]: [Name] on [Topic]', Theory Talks.
Most interviews were conducted by Peer Schouten; a handful were conducted by collaborators, credited on the interview's citation line.
Questions, corrections, or requests can be sent to pesc@diis.dk.