The Study of Intelligence in Theory and Practice

Abstract

This essay surveys the various approaches scholars have employed to study the role of intelligence in national and international politics. It considers the various methodological and epistemological strategies that have characterized the study of intelligence over the past fifty years and argues that from its inception intelligence studies has been characterized by its inter-disciplinary character and openness to different conceptual approaches. Historians, political scientists, sociologists and practitioners have all contributed to the growing body of research on intelligence issues. The authors conclude that this is one of the great strengths of this sub-field and argue for a further broadening and deepening of the intelligence studies agenda.