Social

Constructivism
 Introduction

 Constructivism is a term
coined by Nicholas Onuf in
his book The World of Our
Making (1989)
 During the Cold War => the
realist approach
 Since the late 1980s => the
social constructivist approach
 Introduction
 Onuf criticized neo-realism and neo-liberalism for not
predicting;
 the end of the Cold War
 how the future international system would look like after the
end of Cold War
 For Onuf, the distribution power would not predict whether
the US would be a global hegemon or would prefer
cooperation with other states
 a constructivist sensibility is necessary
 Constructivism
Constructivists are called Constructivists because
they focus on how reality is ‘socially constructed’
•The focus of SC is on the Social world (defined by politics,
economic, history, culture, institutions..) => not defined by
nature, but by human beings
• Social world is not given, not a part of nature but world of
human consciousness that cover concepts, ideas, beliefs,
thoughts (Wendt, 1999)
• Everything involved in the social world of men and women
is made by them
 Constructivism
Neo-realism is Constructivists reject
materialist=> focuses one sided material
on the distribution of focus=> rather than
material power and the distribution of
how it shapes the material power how
behaviour of states we interpret them is
more significant
 Materialistic View vs.
Ideational View
 Constructivists accept the presence
of the material world but also call
attention to its interaction with the
social world
 Guns: what do these physical
entities represent or mean?
Danger or safety?
Repression or freedom?
 Phsical assets have no meaning
without the intellectual component
 Materialistic View vs.
Ideational View
Materialistic view: power and national interest are the driving
forces in int. politics
power and interest are seen as ‘material factor’
Ideational view: Ideas always matter => define the meaning of
material power
Ex: int. system of security and defence consists of territories,
populations, weapons... (parts of material world)
security does not only cover physical assets but also human
beings have an impact on security
But they are organized and used acc.to ideas => in alliances or
armed forces?
 The Social Construction of
Reality
 The main observation of constructivism => the
social construction of reality
1.the socially constructed nature of actors and
their identities and interests => produced and
created by their cultural environment
2.how knowledge shapes how individuals
construct and interpret the world => Reality is
produced and knowledge enables individuals to
construct and give meaning to reality.
 The Social Construction of
Reality: Brute Facts vs. Social
Facts

3. The constructed reality is seen as an objective

reality which is related to the concept of social
facts.
 brute facts (not dependent on human
agreement ) vs. social facts (dependent on human
agreement )
 Although social facts are dependent on human
agreement, we treat them as objective facts and
thus as constraints on our action
 Constructed reality appears to us as natural and
an objective reality.
 The Social Construction of Reality:
‘logic of appropriateness’ vs.
‘logic of consequentiality’
 The social construction of reality also shapes what is viewed as
legitimate action.
 There is conceptual distinction between the ‘logic of consequences’ and
the ‘logic of appropriateness’.
 the ‘logic of consequentiality’ (March and Olsen, 1989) => actors’
behaviors are shaped by cost-benefit analysis in regard to their material
gains.
 the main goal is to satisfy self-interests rather than being a legitimate
actor.
 the ‘logic of appropriateness’ (March and Olsen, 1989) => actors’
behaviors are not dependent on their material interests => motivated by
ideational interests
 rather than maximizing their self-interest, actors try to meet social
expectations in a given situation
 Identity and Constructivism

identity plays a key role => identities show that individuals, groups
and countries will be included in which categories such as ‘us’ or
‘them’ and friends or enemies (Telhami and Barnett, 2002, p. 183).
identity affects countries` foreign policy preferences and outcomes
directly=>enemies vs. friends (Wendt, 1994, p.385)
North Korean`s 5 nuclear weapons more threatening than the UK`s
500 nuclear weapons. Why? => the distribution of military power is
not able to explain
‘shared understandings’ are important to understand the situation
(Wendt, 1999, p.255).
 Anarchy and
Constructivism
“anarchy is what states make of it”
(Wendt, 1992, p. 395)
Anarchy is not a pre-given feature of
the international system but a social
construction
if we live in a world of anarchy, this is
because we have believed that how the
world is
we create the world that we live in and
the world also influences us
 Power and Constructivism
 Power is seen as the ability of a state to force another to
do what it otherwise would not
 Constructivists have offered an addition to this view of
power: The forces of power are not only material, they
can be ideational => legitimacy
 There is a close relation between legitimacy and the costs
of an action => greater legitimacy can easily convince
others to cooperate with their policies
 a state can lose its reputation, trust and credibility if it is
seen as a illegitimate state in international relations
(Finnemore and Sikking, 1998, p.903).
 Norms and Constructivism
Constructivism is related to the impact of norms on
international politics
Norms: standards of appropriate behaviour for actors
with a given identity
The norms that states choose are part of how they define
themselves
Norms constrain behaviour => actors are worried about
costs
For ex: HRs activists not only name and shame violaters
but also persuade them by showing the link btw their
identity and HRs
 Norms and Constructivism

 norms shape the identity of

the actors
 norms shape actors`
interests => in contrast to
realists, constructivists
argue that interests are not
given (Adler, 2002, p.103)
 Life Cycle of Norms
 Life Cycle of Norms:
1. Norm Emergence: How they emerge?
 Built by norm entrepreneurs=> have strong beliefs about
appropriate behaviours in their community
 N.E.s need organizational platform to promote their
norms on int.level => organize campaigns or use
organizations
 N.E.s need the support of state leaders to adopt their
norms
 Life Cycle of Norms
Norm reaches to the ‘tipping point’ (at least 1/3 of states
needed)
2- Norm Acceptance (Norm Cascade):
After the tipping point, more states begin to adopt the
norm rapidly
Peer pressure among nations
States that see themselves democratic will adopt norms
that are promoted by other democratic states
 Life Cycle of Norms
3- Norm Internalization: when governments internalize
norms;
actors pursue them because it is seen as ‘the normal thing
to do’
they are convinced that to do so is the most ‘appropriate’
policy or behaviour (Moravcsik, 2000, p.224)=> violation of
the norm is considered inappropriate
Norms are taken for granted and they are internalized
(Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998).
 Constructivism and
Global Change
Today there is a clear homogenization of world politics;
the tendency of states to organize their lives in similar
ways.
the growing acceptance of certain int. values and norms

oBut how this homogenization occurs?

Through socialization !!
 Socialization
Socialization is a “‘learning process’ through [which]
external states internalise the norms and practices of the
international community” (Schimmelfennig, 2000, p.117).
“national approaches tend to adapt to norms defined by an
international community or institution to which they are
closely linked; that this adaptation takes place over time,
through a socialization process; and that it may also, in the
end, lead to changes in national identity” (Rieker, 2006,
p.509)
 Socialization
At the beginning of socialization process, the norms are adopted
by the elites in the external state to follow their political goals =>
cost-benefit calculations
the state adopts the norms and practices of the community
without regarding them as true and right
For instance, if a government is accused of violating human rights
norms => they make some tactical concessions => not due to its
respect to human rights
The actor’s real aim in changing its behaviour is to achieve its
own objectives, such as regaining foreign aid
 Socialization
 increase in the level of their engagement in a dialogue
about norm implementation, which in turn makes them
more likely to institutionalize the norms.
 The end of a successful socialization process is marked by
norm internalization (Ikenberry and Kupchan, 1990, p.290)
 When norms are internalized;
 external pressure is no longer needed to ensure
compliance (Risse and Sikkink, 1999, p.11).
 actors follow them because it is seen as ‘the usual thing to
do’.
 Institutions and
Socialization

Institutions may also change the

identity of states
political institutions are
influential on actors’ behaviour
(March and Olsen, 1989, p.17)
=> The European Union is a
good example of these
institutions (Europeanization)
 Consequences of the
internalization of norms
1. There are many different ways to organize human
activities but this diversity has started to
disappear.
2. There is a deepening sense of an ‘international
community’. The internalization of norms
suggests that actors are accepting standards of
behaviour
3. Power exists even within an international
community. Diffusion of norms => from the West
to the Third World