Constructivist

theories
Class 5
Post postivism

 Methodological challenge for positivism

 There is no objective truth
 The truth is only a choice Social structures shape believes and behavior
 The world is made out of ideas
 Control over identity makes one extremely powerful
 Constructivists - agree with positivists that we can accumulate valid knowledge
about the world.
 But contrary to them emphasize the role of ideas, of shared knowledge of the social
world.
 States construct each other in their relations, and in so doing they also construct
the international anarchy that defines their relations: anarchy is what states make
of it (does not necessarily dictate any logics of mistrust).
 Idealist

What are IR Ideas shape reality

social Social reality is not objective or external to

the observer
constructivist
Social world is recreated through
theories? intersubjectivity

See e.g. Jackson and Sorenson, Introduction

to IR, OUP.
DEFINITION OF CONSTRUCTIVISM

 Refers to the claim that ideas, besides material matters, have an impact on
politics (it would differ from rational choice in that this impact is not necessarily
reducible to calculated strategic action)
 All constructivists with the exception probably of the most radical ones share
two understandings: social construction of knowledge and construction of social
reality
 Different collective meanings are attached to material world twice as social
reality and as scientific knowledge
 Dynamic not static picture of the world – constantly under the construction
 NOT a type of theory as realism or liberalism Meta –theoretical position (meta
theories are theories about theories). Meta-theories do not explain but say
how to explain what A single meta theory can accommodate a variety of
different theories
 - a human invention
- constituted by ideas not by material forces

What is the - a set of ideas, body of thought, system of norms

- created by particular people in particular place
international - intersubjective creation

system for IR - a system which can be changed by new ideas

- Alexander Wendt: ‘anarchy is what states make
constructivists? of it’
  E.g. Neorealism
 - behaviour of states
 - national interests
 - balance of power

Constructivist IR  - distribution of material power

 - military forces, economic capabilities etc
against
materialist IR Traditional paradigms were not capable to explain
some issues that evolved on the international arena in
20 Century
approaches Main flaws of these paradigms was that they paid too
much attention to the material issues and
oversimplified rationalization of international relations
Reflectivism has challenged rationalism, emphasizing
the need of interpretation of events rather than the
empirical data
 Social constructivist theories
 developed in
 sociology and history before IR Social
 Notably
 Invention of childhood studies
constructivist
 Aries: ‘In medieval society theories
 the idea of childhood outside IR
 did not exist.’
 2 strands of social constructivist theories
- materialist social constructivist approaches
 - closer to classical sociology



- (Durheimian, Weberian or Marxist traditions)
- relationship between norms and material conditions
Social
 - e.g. industrialisation/modernity, constructivist
de-industrialisation/postmodernity
- idealist social constructivist approaches
theories
- society constructed through intersubjectivty outside IR
Social constructivism in IR follows idealist social
constructivist approaches
Influence of sociological
constructivist theories
 E.g. sociologist Anthony Giddens
 Structuration
 - structures (or rules and conditions) do not mechanically
determine what actors do
 - relationship between structures and actors involves
intersubjective understanding and meaning
 - structures constrain actors
 - but actors can transform structures
 - by thinking about them &
 - acting on them in new ways
Antecedents in IR
 E.g. Kant - our knowledge of world is always subjective
in sense filtered through human consciousness and
human language
Social
Similarities with other IR theories
- Liberalism’s concern with advance of liberal democratic
Constructivist
ideals – though constructivism has interest in role of
ideas in general
links
- International Society approach (popular in European IR)
included concern for ideas and social interaction
between states
 - Failure of dominant IR theories
- To explain end of Cold War
- 1989 Revolutions
- largely peaceful revolutions

Rise of IR Romania
-
- only violent overthrow in Eastern bloc
Constructivist - execution of head of state

theories [later conflict in parts of

Eastern Europe
notably former Yugoslavia]
 - Explaining end of Cold War
- Cold War did not end through conflict
- Instead Soviet elite abandoning Communism and
Explaining end of embracing market

Cold War - Check Point Charlie

- 10 November 1989
RATIONALITY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

 Though constructivists do not neglect existence of rationality, they argue that

rationality is relative
 Utilitarian calculation becomes possible only after an actor has already taken
attitude towards a situation.
 Agents do not choose between the most efficient alternative, but follow rules
that associate particular identities to particular situations, approaching
individual opportunities for action by assessing similarities between current
identities and choice dilemmas and more general concepts of self and
situations
Key IR constructivists

 Alexander Wendt
 - ‘anarchy is what states make of it’
 - rejects neorealist position
 - anarchy must lead to self-help
 - state identities and national interests given
 - For Wendt
- - self-help outcome of particular interactions between states
- - identities and interests of states created through interactions
- - ‘structure has no existence of causal power apart from processes’

Key work: Wendt’s Social Theory of International Politics, 1999

 A. Wendt does not see the main premises of
realism and liberalism as wrong in general
 He criticizes realism of being too general
 and liberalism of not paying attention on non-
regulatory norms
 - 3 key types of international anarchy
- Hobbesian
- war of all against all
- states = adversaries
- war= endemic as violent conflict means to survive
Lockean

Wendt: cultures restraint

states= rivals
of anarchy states recognise each others right to exist
since Peace of Westphalia in 1648
Kantian
states = friends
disputes settled peacefully
mutual support if third party threat
among liberal democracies since WWII
 - states want security Constructivist
 - but concept of security not fixed
 - security identities, interests and policies constructed
approaches to
through interactions between states (Wendt) security
 ‘if the United States and the Soviet Union decide that
they are no longer enemies, “the cold war is over”. It
is collective meanings that constitute the structures
which organize our actions. Actors require identities –
End of Cold
relatively stable, role specific understanding and
expectations about self – by participating in such
War
collective meaning’ (Wendt, 1992, p. 418).
 Subsequent constructivist theories

- state not only international actor

- i.e. Wendt did not move far enough from Realist assumptions
- global actors, identities, norms, interests and policies not fixed
- norms of international society constructed through interactions
- between states and other non-state actors including NGOs etc
- concern with
- normative change
- role of international organisations and NGOs in promoting global norms
- peacemaking
- human rights
- human security
 e.g. Mary Kaldor, Martha Finnemore etc
Constructivist ICRC in promoting laws of war/IHL

examples
Neorealist critiques

 See e.g. Stephen Krasner, John Mearsheimer

 Neglect power
 Norms upheld or disregarded if in interests of powerful states
 Problem of trust/uncertainty about other states’ intentions
 Problem of deception
 Constructivist view of change
 Discussed in Jackson and Sorenson, 2003
  Criticism that contructivists
 ‘provide few insights on why discourses rise and
fall…’
 ‘little about why realism has been the dominant
Constructivism on discourse’

change?  ‘they usually end up arguing that change in the

material world drive changes in discourse’
 Mearsheimer, 1995

 - see e.g. constructivist explanations of the Iraq

War e.g. Mary Kaldor
Realist critique of constructivism

William Wohlforth’s article, International Security, Vol. 19,1994-1995

Structural realism may neglect domestic politics
But classical realism does look at domestic politics
 - e.g. Morgenthau, Niebuhr
 - Waltz’s Man, the State and War
 - first image - leaders make politics
Alternative historical materialist or
postmodern social constructivists
Critiques
1. Mainstream IR constructivists neglect
- questions of power & capabilities
- global norms informed by more powerful actors
- explaining why changing material social conditions fostered rise of idealist approaches in 1990s

e.g. ICC & evolving international criminal law

e.g. links between changing development models and changing security concerns

2. Neorealist critiques of constructivism neglect

- impact of changing national/domestic politics
- states’ difficulties cohering sense of national interest
- explaining why changing material social conditions fostered rise of idealist approaches in 1990s
Conclusion
Looking at theories…
Case studies…
Going further.