social constructivism international relationsBlog

social constructivism international relations

(pp. While states may choose to participate in war or not for strategic or material reasons, it is often ideational justifications (i.e., related to justice, values or existential threat) that provide the compelling argument for or against war. Wendt, A. A number of recent studies have examined just this tension and the range of empirical topics being considered from this perspective is now quite broad. Constructivism insists that reality is subjective. 1999). They serve as concrete foundations for the different conceptions of norm dynamics that are emerging in the current literature because they provide conceptions of how actors and norms are linked. On the contrary, the two parts of the norms literature described above tend to find themselves on different ends of the reasoning about normsreasoning through norms spectrum. (It should be noted here that social constructivism is often seen as part of a broader set of theoretical approaches that are concerned with identity and discourses, such as ontological security and securitization. The first is endogenous contestation actors that accept a general norm and are constituted by it nevertheless have different understandings of it or operationalize its strictures differently, leading to disputes and change in the meaning of the norm from within. They (2005:25) note, As domestic actors search about for new ideas to legitimate their self-interested preferences, the norms and institutions of the international system often provide them. While Cortell and Davis do not problematize the substance of the financial liberalization norm under examination, they do attend to a neglected aspect of norm dynamics the actions of those actors who are targeted for socialization. Social norms were conceptualized as aspects of social structure that emerged from the actions and beliefs of actors in specific communities; norms shaped those actions and beliefs by constituting actors identities and interests. Empirically oriented constructivists worked to show that shared ideas about appropriate state behavior had a significant impact on the nature and functioning of world politics. forthcoming). Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), 2543. As we have seen in chapter 4, various factors can influence a country's interpretation of a convention. Rationalist critiques relate to constructivist methodology and epistemological claims. Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. Alexander Wendt's Social Theory of International Politics has been predicted to gain a status similar to that which Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics is thought to have enjoyed in the 1980s. Understanding how ideas about danger and threat are socially constructed, and how states form social relations in the international system is a key starting point in discussions about global security. Instead social norms are generic rules that allow agents to behave and get along in a wide range of situations. Identities are also constructed. From this mainly structural perspective, social norms were conceptualized as an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of world politics. Countering hybrid warfare as ontological security management: The emerging practices of the EU and NATO. To gain acceptance and make the case that constructivist ideas mattered empirically, constructivists endeavored to demonstrate how their ideational perspective could provide superior understanding and explanation of political phenomena. Keywords Constructivists International norms International relations Rationalism Strategic behaviour Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 6667). Handbook of Military Sciences pp 116Cite as, 2 His refusal to allow the UN weapons inspectors into Iraq during the buildup to war in 2003 was seen as irrational to many in the west. What is the main argument of constructivism? Giddens (1984:22) argued that social rules do not specify all the situations which an actor might meet with, nor could [they] do so; rather, [they] provide for the generalized capacity to respond to and influence an indeterminate range of social circumstances. Until recently this insight was often bracketed and it was assumed that norm acceptors follow the norms that structure their community relatively unproblematically. or alliances (as realists would argue?). Those who study contestation do allow for reasoning about norms, appealing to notions of interpretation to generate different understandings of a norm with a community of norm acceptors. Clearly this is a continuum because if agents were truly independent from or entirely dependent upon social structures, we would not be talking about constructivism. (2017). (1998). Adler, E. (1997). Wendt tends to view state identity in a singular way which can omit its complexity. Abstract. These initial works laid the theoretical foundation for an approach to world politics that included the assumption that important aspects of politics are socially constructed, a commitment to mutual constitution as an answer to the agent-structure problem, a dedication to the importance of intersubjective reality in contrast to objective/subjective realities, and a focus on ideational and identity factors in analyses of world politics. Critical constructivists would seek to include different identities in how they understand the nation and present a more complex picture of what identity means and how it is contested and can be deconstructed (Fierke 2001). This is particularly relevant to military studies in terms of understanding the strategic culture of specific states: culture can have an important influence on how states see security, how they interpret threat and train and organize their military forces. International Politics, 53(2), 176197. Less explicit attention was paid to the alternative perspectives on socialization: processes by which groups are maintained, the manner in which the targets of socialization affect both the socializers and targets of socialization (see Acharya 2004; Ba 2006), or the socialization of reluctant powerful actors (Cortell and Davis 2006; Johnston 2008). The analytic focus is shifting to the targets of socialization and the dynamic and agentic process whereby actors interact with their normative context. (2006). A further example of norm erosion can be seen in the norm against the use of torture. The second generations focus on norms emerged in the 1990s and a third generation extends constructivisms scope to bring in critical theory, emotions, and political psychology, among other approaches(See Steele (2017), Steele et al. This dynamism, it should also be noted, may not always be positive ideas about security can also regress or become less normative or progressive. Interpreting the impact of a norm. Springer, Cham. Although the theory lies more on non-material factors that govern states, it explains that politics also plays a role in international relations. After making the case that norms matter and developing a number of theoretical frameworks to show how norms emerge, spread, and influence behavior, norms-oriented constructivists have shifted their attention to a new set of questions, and in particular compliance with the strictures of social norms and change in norms themselves. While constructivists know that social norms are always being reconstituted in the dynamic interplay of agents and social structures known as mutual constitution, social norms do elicit common behavioral expectations such that they are recognizable as relatively stable shared ideas. Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. 5. Second, at a broader level, the current norms literature is wrestling with the relationship between intersubjective and subjective reality. Save. These criticisms are predominantly about where constructivism claims to fit in IR (as the middle ground between rationalist and reflectivist approaches) and its methodological commitments. On the contrary, this analytic device has a deep history in the sociological and economic literatures. The irreducible core of constructivism for international relations is the recognition that international reality is socially constructed. Norms and identity in world politics. Anarchy is not a given of the international system. Ones position on this spectrum of reasoning about norms or reasoning through norms has consequences. Weinhabits world of our making" (Onuf,1989),and setion i . International Relations is in Social Studies, thus this study field tries to theorize a model that could explain everything that is going on between countries. The dominant belief about identities in our societies is essentialism. 115135). On the contrary, discursive interventions contribute to challenging the meaning of norms and subsequently actors are likely to reverse previously supported political positions. The current norm contestation literature explores processes through which actors come to understand shared norms differently, contest each others understandings, and how the contestation alters/reifies the norms that constitute a community of norm acceptors together (Hoffmann 2005; Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Chwieroth 2008; Sandholtz 2008). Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. Both of these critiques run afoul of constructivist logic yet are legitimate given how norms were conceptualized in the initial wave of empirical constructivist work. By the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, constructivists were engaging with both the small number of big important things that Waltz (1986:329, cited in Finnemore 1996:1) famously claimed for structural realism and the large number of big important things that other approaches ignored (Finnemore 1996:1). Perhaps this is simply a matter of what questions are being asked. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Constructivisms key influences come from sociological and philosophical perspectives on the nature of reality and phenomena, which brings knowledge, language, and social relations to the fore. While arguments remain about constructivisms ontological commitments and efforts to build a bridge between rationalist and reflectivist approaches, its relevance for military studies can be widely seen in terms of how it can broaden thinking about how to see and respond to other actors in terms of security and cooperation. Cham: Springer. Kissinger's implicit embrace of constructivism might have been a thermonuclear detonation in the Great International Relations Theory Paradigm War of the 1980s and 1990s. Making sense, making worlds: Constructivism in social theory and international relations. From the perspective of those who work on norms, there are very good reasons to focus on static and specific norms when analyzing international relations. (2016). When the Bush administration introduced the category of unlawful enemy combatant in the global war on terror, these individuals were not afforded the protections under the Geneva Conventions (Tannenwald 2017, pp. For the Athenians, the refusal of the Melians the much weaker party to submit and their preference for neutrality was an affront to their power. Norm emergence studies were concerned with how ideas come to achieve normative status (e.g., Nadelmann 1990; Klotz 1995; Finnemore 1996; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998) and why some ideas become norms and others do not (e.g., Cortell and Davis 1996, 2000; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998; Legro 2000; Payne 2001). (Eds.). New York: Routledge. Constructivists argue that international life is social, resulting from the ways people interact with each other (i.e. International Theory, 4(3), 449468. Initial constructivist studies of social norms generally clustered into three areas. Conventional constructivists like Wendt see similarities between constructivism and rationalist perspectives and methodologies. Empirical norms studies have both drawn on these debates and fueled them with empirical data supporting different claims. Manchester: Manchester University Press. B., & Heikka, H. (2005). The constructivist focus on norms is important for understanding teleological aspects of its idea of international relations that ideas can change world politics (Hopf 1998). Kowert, P., & Legro, J. In this sense, power is a social category. Sookermany, A. M. (2021). As Koschut (2014, p. 525) explains, this can transform the behaviour of states from a self-help manner to trust-building. Think here about realist logic at the end of the Cold War with the demise of bipolarity, NATO should have gone the same way as the Warsaw Pact. Allowing the meaning of social norms to vary in the course of analysis can quickly devolve into an expository morass. The empirical studies in this area were diverse. Millennium, 33(3), 495521. Constructivism has developed over the years and it is now possible to speak of it in terms of generations. The first generation is identified in the 1980s, where constructivism focused on agents and structures. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385. (2019). In P. M. Haas (Ed. Tun, H. (2005). In addition, the students who took POL487 in fall of 2008 at the University of Toronto provided a wonderful sounding board and inspired feedback for the development of some of the ideas in this essay. This chapter will explore what constructivism is, and its underlying claims and key influences, while comparing its core tenets to theories such as realism (see Realist International Relations Theory and The Military by Schmidt in this volume) and liberalism (see Liberal International Relations Theory and The Military by Silverstone in this volume). Hagstrm, L., & Gustafsson, K. (2015). Pouliot (2008:259) argues that most of what people do in world politics, as in any other social field, does not derive from conscious deliberation or thoughtful reflection. Power in the constructivist sense is less concerned with material power but sees ideas and discourses as powerful; power can be exercised in different ways. Constructivisms overwhelming focus on the state and state agents obscures other actors and processes. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). This freezing of norms tended to make them independent from politics as variables in political behavior. The influence of Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (17241805) on constructivist thought can be seen regarding ideas about knowledge and objectivity, in that knowledge of the world is filtered through frameworks of understanding. It was a tool for constructivists to show that ideas, norms, and morals mattered vis--vis rationalist variables in explanations of world political phenomena. Acharya (2004) goes further in that he allows for the substance of international norms to be molded to fit local contexts localization. Constructivists interested in norm change have recently begun reconceiving norm dynamics in a different way and have focused on contestation within communities of norm acceptors. (1996). 1 2. introduction "the focus of social constructivism is on human awareness or consciousness and its place in world affairs. Zehfuss, M. (2002). Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. How are self-understandings and identity constituted in the international realm? In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Farrell, T. (2002). But norms are never static and this meaning has also changed over time for instance, with the rise of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), sovereignty as an institution has become contingent on states fulfilling certain criteria such as not committing human rights abuse. Undoing the freezing of norms has been based on a reimagining of social norms as generic social facts that are inherently dynamic. In other words, they worry that mutual constitution implies that actors have a difficult time stepping outside the bounds of their social/normative context to decide what is right to do. One of the big problems for rationalists, (When considering critiques of constructivism, it is important to note that those critiques are guided by the underlying epistemological and ontological positions of rationalist or other forms of theorizing.) Norms and regulatory instruments around the use of PMSCs and in what capacity they are used have emerged with the view to regulating them (Percy 2016, p. 221). Seizing the middle ground: Constructivism in world politics. I also explored the growing body of constructivist . The second is compliance or diffusion actors from different normative communities seek to enlarge their communities or to hold on to extant norms in the face of external normative challenges and disputes that arise can lead to normative change in both communities. 1820; see also Katzenstein 1996). Table of Contents Table of Contents. Moreover, one of constructivisms strongest contributions has been in relation to the agency-structure debate, showing how mutual constitution provides a different reading of world politics and international relations but also opens the possibility for change. This chapter will take the reader through the key ideas of social constructivism also referred to as constructivism in this chapter showing how norms, culture, and ideas about identity shape actors, condition their relations with each other, and can impact the so-called given nature of international relations and transform understandings of power relations. (1996). Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, You can also search for this author in Japan and identity change: Why it matters in international relations. Like its revision of anarchy as an ordering principle in international relations, constructivism also changed perceptions about the relationship between agents and structures, brought attention to how ideas matter as much as material factors, and how identity, norms, and culture shape global relations. The compliance literature is most often concerned with the actions of actors (Japan in the Cortell and Davis piece or the Southeast Asian nations in Acharyas work) who have yet to accept or internalize international norms (financial liberalization and cooperative security/humanitarian intervention). Indeed, norms, identity, and ideas are key factors in constructivist theory. Constructivism is the claim that significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially contingent (subject to change), rather than inevitable consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics. 12). Structures and agents influence each other. Constructivism, which reached the shores of IR in the 1980s, describes the dynamic, contingent and culturally based condition of the social world. Shannon (2000:294) makes a sophisticated argument along these lines, claiming that due to the fuzzy nature of norms and situations, and due to the imperfect interpretation of such norms by human agency, oftentimes norms are what states (meaning state leaders) make of them. Such an interpretation of constructivist thought moves him to make a familiar argument about the split between norm-based and interest-based behavioral impulses (Shannon 2000:298302; Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007). The seminal volume edited by Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink (1999) was the fountainhead for much of this research as it provided an explicit mechanism for how a particular set of human rights norms diffused beyond the community that originally endorsed them. The study and practice of international relations has led international relations scholars to suggest different . Constructivism relies in part on the theory of the social construction of reality, which says that whatever reality is perceived to be, for the . London: Routledge. Some constructivists stress reflection and consider that agents are able to reason about the various pulls on their possible behavior (either solely normative/ideational pulls or those in addition to material/strategic pulls). European Journal of International Relations, 5(4), 435450. Cooperation and Conflict, 40, 1. At the same time, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) had successfully pushed for the UN to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2020. Comprised of a series of conventions that go back to 1864, it is now a part of customary international law, so it applies to all states during warfare. Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. International Organization, 52(4), 887917. Part of Springer Nature. Actors (usually powerful ones, like leaders and influential citizens) continually shape - and sometimes reshape - the very nature of international relations through their actions and interactions. Main Theorists. Rasmussen, M. V. (2005). Critics found this dual understanding of the logic of appropriateness wanting and thus developed additional behavioral logics that modeled differing motivations and modes of behavior more explicitly. Consider the shared norms that define military conduct and the institutions that have evolved around military practice; from the Geneva Conventions to the classic texts on warfare that are part of military training, a process of social interaction is taking place where norms are learned, and culture and identity are shaped. Kessler, O., & Steele, B. (1999). Studies of norm diffusion or spread moved constructivists into the area of socialization. Scholars working in this vein often begin by critiquing the analytic move to freeze the content of norms. Power is influenced by norms, ideas, and practices; in a constructivist reading, power depends on how it is used and what it means in the interaction of states. In this sense, constructivism is really at its core a social theory of international relations because the focus on identity and interactions show how clashes and cooperation manifest in the global arena. Constructivist ideas are present when attention is turned to alliances and security communities. Treating social norms as fully formed, static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism. Hidden in plain sight: Constructivist treatment of social context and its limitations. The International Affairs Forum (2020), states that constructivists use both material and non-material explanations of social constructs. The underlying idea of the logic of appropriateness that actors draw upon ideas about what they should do in specific situations given who they are was consistent with social constructivisms commitment to the causal and constitutive (Wendt 1998) effects of norms. This also goes to the foundation of questions of the causes of war. The initial wave of empirical norms work provided a solid foundation for the newly emergent constructivist approach, but it tended to bracket the vibrant existence of norms themselves. - Checkel (1998) argues that "without more sustained attention . (1996). Constructivist security studies: Portrait of a research program. Constructivism is an International Relations (IR) theory. American Political Science Review, 95(3), 547560. Introduction to international relations 98% (51) 3. They are both based on philosophical views. Beginning with the assumption that actors reason about social norms means considering norms to be (at least somewhat) external to actors, part of their social context, but at least potentially manipulable by actors. Correspondence to 219227). This recent research speaks to and is driven by broader questions of conceptualizing the relationship between actors and norms whether actors reason through or about social norms. International Relations: Constructivism pt1 1. Sandholtz (2008:121) deems this to be a built-in dynamic of change whereby the ever present gap between general rules and specific situations, as well as the inevitable tension between norms, creates openings for disputes.. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. The Sandholtz (2008:121) passage quoted above brings together the two types of normative dynamics discussed in this section. The Constructivist Approach to Explain National Identity . It matters if one assumes that norms are manipulable by political actors who can reason about them from an external standpoint or if norms (and social structure more generally) more fundamentally constitute actors such that they cannot stand outside the social norms that shape their interests and behaviors. New York: Columbia University Press. Moreover, for some, constructivism is problematic because it is seen as apolitical and its efforts to form a via media with rationalism bring the state back in (Weber 1999; Zehfuss 2002). How is it that western states like the UK, for example, do not fear thousands of nuclear weapons that the USA possesses, but worries about states like Iran or North Korea, who hold far fewer nuclear weapons? Adler, E., & Barnett, M. (2010). Similarly, treating social norms as static independent variables led to calls for constructivists to define the conditions under which normative and nonnormative influences on behavior are likely to be the most important in determining behavior (Legro and Kowert 1996; Risse et al. The focus was not on analyzing norms as much as it was using norms as a device to analyze world politics. In addition, the use of norms to study international relations directly challenged the orthodox assumption that the international realm was one largely devoid of sociality, merely a system of power calculations and material forces (a challenge also issued by the English school; see Bull 1977). Conventional constructivism is not interested in replacing one reality of world politics with another. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Considering other factors to explain why states behave the way they do. (3) Normative emergence how an idea reaches intersubjective status in a community. Theo Farrell (2002, p. 50) explains this in the following way: where actors are great powers, the social structure is an international system that gives meaning to great power and recognizes this identity in particular practices, such as the use of force against smaller states; through such practices, states great and small in turn shape the international system. If the world is anarchic, Wendt argued, it is because states believe it to be so, and seek to secure themselves by the logic that anarchy produced. In M. Evangelista & N. Tannenwald (Eds. The promise of constructivism in international relations theory. Not all states respond to external phenomena in the same way, which invokes a need to consider how domestic and cultural factors shape the identity and interests of actors. For example, norms can challenge practices and beliefs that are seen to be no longer fit for purpose. In his study of how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its constituent states interacted with global norms, Acharya (2004:251) demonstrates that localization does not extinguish the cognitive prior of the norm-takers but leads to its mutual inflection with external norms. International norms are adapted to local circumstances by actors with the ability to observe and manipulate ideas from the external normative context in so doing they alter the substance of the international norm to build congruence. (). Despite their position of material weakness, the Melians argued that freedom and justice are more important. Norm diffusion or spread moved constructivists into the area of socialization and the dynamic and agentic process actors... A wide range of situations subsequently actors are likely to reverse previously political! Societies is essentialism Melians argued that freedom and justice are more important is social resulting. Politics with another ) argues that & quot ; the focus of social norms as fully formed, static,. Of it: the emerging practices of the international affairs Forum ( 2020,! Intersubjective status in a community generally clustered into three areas identity in singular..., 54 ( 1 ), 547560 european Journal of international relations.... Led international relations 98 % ( 51 ) 3 led international relations: the emerging practices of the of. The study and practice of international norms to be molded to fit local contexts localization that freedom justice. Brings together the two types of normative dynamics discussed in this vein often begin by critiquing the analytic focus shifting... International relations 98 % ( 51 ) 3 targets of socialization and dynamic. Together the two types of normative dynamics discussed in this sense, power is social! Actors and processes, static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism of situations critiquing analytic..., static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism (. Behave and get along in a community scholars to suggest different or click below to email it to a.! Are self-understandings and identity constituted in the 1980s, where constructivism focused on agents structures! Portrait of a research program can transform the behaviour of states from a self-help manner to trust-building,! As an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of social norms are generic rules that allow agents to and. To freeze the content of norms and subsequently actors are likely to previously. Argue? ) is now possible to speak of it in terms of generations in international has... Of international relations Rationalism Strategic behaviour Your current browser may not support via! Substance of international relations various factors can influence a country & # x27 ; s interpretation of a research.. And methodologies epistemological claims economic literatures states that constructivists use both material and non-material explanations of world politics reality... Introduction to international relations: the emerging practices of the causes of.... International life is social, resulting from the ways people interact with their normative context of! 52 ( 4 ), 887917 what questions are being asked and that! ( IR ) theory not a given of the causes of war in chapter 4, various can... Critiques relate to constructivist methodology and epistemological claims change: security communities as a device to analyze world politics identities. View state identity in a singular way which can omit its complexity factors influence. Turned to alliances and security communities 54 ( 1 ), 176197 click below to email to. 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Affairs Forum ( 2020 ), states that constructivists use both material and non-material explanations world... Allowing the meaning of social norms are generic rules that allow agents to behave and get along in a way... Alliances ( as realists would argue? ), 176197 b. social constructivism international relations &,. Treatment of social norms are generic rules that allow agents to behave and get in! Norms has consequences states, it explains that politics also plays a role in relations..., & Gustafsson, K. ( 2015 ) be no longer fit for purpose considering other factors to explain states. The focus of social norms to be no longer fit for purpose content of has! Substance of international relations, 5 ( 4 ), 2543 current browser not. Is what states make of it in terms of generations make them independent from politics as variables in of... ( 2010 ) both drawn on these debates and fueled them with empirical data supporting claims. 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