GFPP2223

FOREIGN POLICY
School of International Studies
Universiti Utara Malaysia

S
 Constructivism and Foreign
Policy

 What is constructivism?

 How can we apply the theory of constructivism in the

analysis of foreign policy?
 Contents

 Introduction

 Constructivism and FPA

 Bureaucracies
 Decision-making
 International Society

 Conclusion
 Theorists of constructivism

 Emanuel Adler

 Anthony Clark Arend

 Michael N. Barnett

 Martha Finnemore
 Central Themes

• Change
Idea of social construction suggests difference across
context not a single objective reality
• Social dimensions
Emphasise norms, rules and language and how material
and ideational factors combine in the construction of
different possibilities and outcomes
• Processes of interaction
Actors make choices in the process of interacting with
others bringing historically, culturally and politically
distinct ‘realities’ into being
International relations is a social construction
• States, alliances or international institutions are
examples of social phenomenon in IR
• They take specific historical, cultural and political
forms
• These forms are a product of human interaction
in a social world
• Social phenomena do not exist independent of
human meaning and action
 Constructivism

 Nicholas Greenwood Onuf was the first theorist who

introduced the term “constructivism” in International
Relations theory in 1989, contending that states much the
same as individuals.
 Constructivism

 Established as recently as the late 1980s and early 1990s by

such thinkers as Nicholas Onuf, Alexander Wendt, Emanuel
Adler, Friedrich Kratochwil, John Gerard Ruggie and Peter
Katzenstein, constructivism is a “social theory of
international politics” .

 Emphasizes the social construction of world affairs as opposed

to the claim of (neo)realists, that international politics is shaped
by the rational-choice behaviour/decisions of egoist actors who
pursue their interests by making utilitarian calculations to
maximize their benefits and minimize their losses, hence the
materiality of international structures.
 In contrast to realism, for which international relations are
driven by the states’ security and material interests defined
in terms of power, and to liberal internationalism that
concentrates upon the interdependency of international
actors and their operation within institutional constraints,
 constructivism considers international politics as a sphere
of interaction which is shaped by the actors’ identities and
practices and influenced by constantly changing normative
institutional structures.
 The major thesis of constructivism is that the international
system is “socially constructed,” that is, it “consists of,” -
“the ways in which human beings think and interact with
one another.”
 In the discipline of international relations, constructivism
is the claim that significant aspects of international
relations are historically and socially constructed, rather
than inevitable consequences of human nature or other
essential characteristics of world politics.
 Constructivists believe that traditional IR concepts such
as anarchy and power are social constructions that are
engineered by collective thought (Wendt, 1987).
 Constructivists see the world around us as socially
constructed.
 Socially means that constructivists give greater weight to
the social – as opposed to the material – in the world
politics.
 Eg: nuclear weapon
 Constructivists argue that the existence of material
capabilities is not that matters, rather the social context
that gives meaning to that capability.
 E.g. British – America – nuclear friendship

 E.g. North Korea – Iran – nuclear threat

 Social context of Friendship

 Social context of Enmity

 Constructed means that constructivists understand the
world as coming into being – constructed – through a
process of interaction between agents (individuals, states,
non-states actors) and the structures of their broader
environment.
 Eg: process of mutual constitution between agents and structures
(instead of just assuming that a particular foreign policy actor has
certain interests, constructivists explore how those interests are
constructed through a process of interaction with broader
environment.
 Constructivist challenges realist and liberalist on their conception
of the state and state interests, arguing that both are constructed
and subject to change.
 As subjects, human develops ideas, including knowledge of the
world around them.
 Ideas that become widely accepted function as ideational
structures that affect state actions.
 “Agents” shape their social context, which in turn shapes their
behavior, interests and identities.
 Constructivist also challenged realist assumptions about the dynamics of international
politics, particularly in the context of military affairs.
 Constructivism is often presented as an alternative to the two leading theories of
international relations, realism and liberalism.

 Hopf (1998) notes that constructivists believe actors and structures are ‘mutually constitutive’.
This means that social interaction between actors creates structures which in turn influence
actor behaviour.

 This can be contrasted with rationalists who argue that only structures can influence actor
behaviour.

 For Fierke (2002) and Hopf (1998), the study of language or ‘discourse’ is essential for
understanding how social relations and interaction within IR is constituted
 Many constructivists analyze international relations by
looking at goals, threats, fears, cultures, identities, and
other elements of "social reality" as social facts.
 Social facts are the values, cultural norms, and social
structures which transcend the individual and are capable
of exercising a social constraint.
 Constructivism & FPA

 Constructivism can contribute to the analysis of FP in 3 important ways:

 Bureaucracies
 Decision making
 Impact of International society

 https://www.e-ir.info/2011/07/17/the-relevance-of-constructivism-to-foreign-p
olicy-analysis
/

 “various cognitive processes” impact upon foreign policy construction, as well

as on agency and agents, either “state-based foreign policy elites” – stressed by
FP analysts – or “non-state norm entrepreneurs” – highlighted by
constructivists 
 Constructivism & FPA

 Bureaucracies and their interest

 National bureaucracies have been at the heart of FPA.

 Foreign ministries, state departments, departments of

international trade, ministries of defense – all such units
play central roles.
 Their mission is to defend the national interest.
 Constructivism & FPA

 Decision-making: bargaining and arguing

 Actors of FP know what they want and bargain to get it.

 Foreign policy driven by the decision-making processes

in which actors collectively participate.
 Bargain- individuals and bureaucratic units – deals at the
level of strategy and specific tactics, while protecting
their core policies and interests.
 Constructivism & FPA

 International society and states

 Increasingly globalized world – give impact to international

society and FP practice of states.
 Relations between international institutions and state policy.

 Constructivists suggest that the gap separating the

international and domestic would seem to be vanishingly
small.
 Conclusion

 Constructivists explore how the interests of key FP actors

are socially constructed.
 In an increasingly globalized world, constructivists argue
that the best way to study FPA is to transgress levels of
analysis- combining both national and international
settings.
 Further reading

 Adler, E. (2002), ‘Constructivism and International Relations’,

(London: Sage Publications)

 Barnett, M., and Duvalls R. (2005), ‘Power in International

Politics

 Klotz, A. and C. lynch (2007), Strategies for Research in

Constructivist International Relations (NY: M.E. Sharpe)
 Discussion

 What is constructivism?

 How do constructivists view the relation between

international organizations and state foreign policy?