The Sandholtz (2008:121) passage quoted above brings together the two types of normative dynamics discussed in this section. European Review of International Studies, 3(3), 713. This chapter will concentrate on some of the main elements that have relevance for military studies. The Washington Quarterly, 41(3), 89109. 115135). Presents a social constructivist reading of securitization theory that, besides the Copenhagen school, also includes other constructivist interpretations of security that draw on securitization and speech act theory. In R. Abrahamsen & A. Leander (Eds. 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. Liberty University International Relations Chapter Four: Theories of International Relations: Economic Structuralism, Constructivism, and Feminism Notes. 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. Journal of European Public Policy, 6(5), 721742. Constructivism focuses on Norms, Ideas, and behaviors in order to understand how IR works and why people do what they do. There is considerable confusion in the field on what precisely constitutes social constructivism and what distinguishes it from other approaches to international relations.1 As a result, it has become fairly common to introduce constructivism as yet another substantive theory of international rela- Only those with equal power could make such demands, and the Athenians make good on their threat to destroy the Melians, declaring that might is right and the weak suffer what they must (Thucydides 1951, pp. This has implications for the concept of anarchy, the agent-structure relationship, and national interests, but all three of these areas of research are also approachable through non-constructivist means. Second, analytic tractability is necessary and is no trivial accomplishment. To construct something is an act which brings into being a subject or object that otherwise would not exist. 5. (2002). 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. Agius, C. (2022). Kessler, O., & Steele, B. Some preexisting knowledge of speech act theory, constructivism, and securitization theory is useful before reading this chapter . Moreover, how NATO made this successful transition and ensured its survival relied on the dominant ideas about how the Cold War ended. 1. We dont do that: A constructivist perspective on the use and non-use of private military contractors by Denmark. Correspondence to 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. Allen, J. Risses (2000) and Sendings (2002) critiques focus on the taken-for-granted mode of action implied the logic of appropriateness. London: Penguin. This realization was part of what prompted the serious focus on domestic political/normative contexts in much of this literature. Social Constructivism or Constructivism is a theory in International Relations which holds that developments in international relations are being constructed through social processes in accordance with ideational factors such as identity, norms, rules, etc. Critical constructivists pay greater attention to issues of power and dominant discourses that construct national identity.. It stresses the social dimensions of International relations. Ideas about whether actors reason about norms or through norms can be linked to behavioral logics, which provide conceptions of how actors and norms are linked. Studies of norm diffusion or spread moved constructivists into the area of socialization. To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. It is ideas, according to constructivists, that play a large role in determining how actors act. Neumann, I. They do not simply replace bad norms but become established through what Finnemore and Sikkink (1998) call a norm cycle where new ideas and shared understandings emerge, become instituted and normalized. Issues such as those discussed immediately above raise the third criticism about constructivism, that "a weak or at least a controversial epistemology has become the basis for a strong pedagogic policy" (Phillips 1995, p. 11)).The primary influence underpinning much of the theoretical commitments of constructivist pedagogy was a highly influential paper written by Posner et al. Constructivism is the new approach to International Relations. Social phenomenon such as states, alliances or international institutions, are not thought to exist independent of human meaning and action. These initial waves of constructivist writing met the challenge issued by Keohane and played a significant role in vaulting constructivism into prominence during the 1990s and early 2000s (Checkel 1998, 2004). Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15(1), 923. But the nuclear issue is also important because it shows how competing ideas about norms co-exist or contrast for example, former US President Donald Trump tried to change the norm around the use of nuclear weapons, arguing for the ability to use low yield nuclear weapons and the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review returned to the idea that nuclear superiority mattered (Tannenwald 2018). 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. March and Olsen introduced the discipline to the notion of behavioral logics in delineating the logic of consequences and the logic of appropriateness, framing their discussion in terms of a rationalist-sociological debate (March and Olsen 1998). Bibliographical References Adler, E. (1997). CrossRef Table of Contents; Introduction to Social Constructivism: Rise of Social Constructivism in IR: Constructivism as social theory: Constructivist theories of International Relations: Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. As Sandholtz (2008:101) puts it disputes about acts are at the heart of a process that continually modifies social rules. forthcoming). It has major implications for an understanding of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and how to achieve it. One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. In his view, theories of cultures can not supplant theories of politics, and no casual theory of identity construction exists. The superior military capabilities of the USA were a significant material advantage that should have compelled Iraq to avoid invasion. New York: M. E. Sharpe. (1999). Ideals that were really never in our possession: Torture, honor and US identity. Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. The UK and the USA are part of NATO, so share alliance membership, but have also stood shoulder to shoulder in conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq in response to global terrorism, which both states understand to be an existential threat to their way of life. Meaning is socially constructed this epistemological claim suggests that depending on ones position and perspective, knowledge and meaning produce different interpretations (Guzzini 2005, p. 498). 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. forthcoming). (2021). As Farrell tells us, liberals and realists do not agree on what prevents war is it democracy (as liberals would contend?) Abstract. As political processes such as the 2008 economic crisis in Europe and Brexit show, theorising a polity. (2009). If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Ideas about whether actors reason about norms or through norms can be linked to underlying behavioral logics that constructivists have devised and developed since the inception of the approach. The second big claim of constructivism is that ideas matter with rationalist theorizing, material factors take precedence. London: Routledge. From this mainly structural perspective, social norms were conceptualized as an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of world politics. 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). Empirical norms studies have both drawn on these debates and fueled them with empirical data supporting different claims. Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). (3) Normative emergence how an idea reaches intersubjective status in a community. Adler, E., & Barnett, M. 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. About us. Instead, constructivism is held together by consensus on broader questions of social process its position on the agent-structure problem and the primacy of the ideational and the intersubjective aspects of social life (for overviews of constructivism see Onuf 1998; Ruggie 1998; Finnemore and Sikkink 2001; Ba and Hoffmann 2003). The translation requires interpretation a subjective understanding of the intersubjective context to decide on a behavior. 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). Along with recent work on strategic social construction the idea that norms can be deployed in the service of interests (regardless of whether those interests are pre-given or socially constructed themselves) or at least shape strategic behavior (e.g., Barnett and Coleman 2004; Muller 2004; Nielson, Tierney, and Weaver 2006; Seabrooke 2006) the recent writing on compliance has made progress on questions left open by the initial wave of empirical norms research. Critiques of constructivism tend to come from three areas: rationalist criticisms, issues over how constructivists see identity, and finally, criticism that constructivism is apolitical. The work of Cortell and Davis (2005) and Acharya (2004) are relevant examples of this type of compliance research. 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. Instead, attempts at synthesis of constructivism and rationalism are now en vogue (e.g., Fearon and Wendt 2001; Schimmelfennig 2001, 2005; Checkel and Zurn 2005; Kornprobst 2007; Culpepper 2008; Kelley 2008). Other scholars deemed the logic of appropriateness (as well as the logics of consequences and arguing) to be too agentic to fit well with constructivist tenets. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. ), Epistemic communities, constructivism, and international environmental politics (pp. Social Constructivism sees the whole discipline of International Relations as a social construction. Koschut, S. (2014). Recent studies have taken the generic nature of norms more seriously and have subsequently focused on how actors must operationalize their normative context to take specific actions (Hoffmann 2005; Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Sandholtz 2008). This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. This is natural given that this work is still in the area of socialization. e. In international relations, constructivism is a social theory that asserts that significant aspects of international relations are shaped by ideational factors. While neorealists argued that attacking Iraq was not in the national interests of the USA and that containment was more effective (Mearsheimer and Walt 2003), neoconservative hawks determined otherwise. Is Dewey a social constructivist? 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. (1992). In this sense, power is a social category. Abstract: The history of social constructivism in International Relations (IR) is marked by cognitive change and continuity. 219227). This is a continuous, two-way process (2013, p. 4). When interacting with external norms, the targets of socialization reason about and in some cases manipulate the social norms (international or domestic) that shape their behavior. The Peloponnesian War. Even so, more recently there has been some rejection of the ICC by a few African states, signaling that some states are unwilling to accept its authority. 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. The development of and debate over logics of behavior is the foundation of the reasoning about normsreasoning through norms spectrum. Constructivism can explain how identity shapes interaction in the international realm for instance the assumption that when states regard each other as liberal democracies they are less likely to go to war with each other. This chapter will also cover the different branches of constructivist thought and the main critiques of constructivism to highlight its key contributions and the problems it also raises. They are thus animated entities that strengthen, weaken, and evolve. This criticism over methodology, it should be noted, does not wholly apply to the conventional strand of constructivism, which Wendt says can employ positivist scientific methods to verify or falsify claims (Wendt 1999); for example, to know something about a states military culture, one could look to opinion polls, regulations, training manuals, and the curricula at military academies that can provide data or information about how ideas and norms inform approaches to military organization and culture (Farrell 2002, pp. In P. M. Haas (Ed. He considers that existing norms constrain the possibilities for action, but that different understandings of those norms inevitably arise in the community of norm acceptors. Tannenwald, N. (2018). A notable example that Searle uses to explain this is money. Norms and regulations. Jacobsen (2003:60) recognizes the need to theorize this relationship observing that, constructivists of all stripes seem to agree that it is vital to theorize links between subjective experience and social/institutional structures. The two versions of norm dynamics discussed above posit different conceptions of the intersubjective/subjective relationship, but neither has developed the final answer to this open question. But Wendt also identified a Lockean culture that demonstrated some restraint in warfare and a Kantian culture that was guided more by cooperation (Wendt 1999). ), Constructing international relations: The next generation (pp. Two types of normative dynamics can be identified: the first is endogenous contestation; the second is compliance or diffusion. Following the initial success of empirical norms studies that established the efficacy of studying norms and showed that they mattered, current norms research explores when/where norms matter and how/when/why norms themselves change to a greater extent. Constructivist security studies: Portrait of a research program. Silverstone, S. (2021). Schmidt, B. [1] [3] The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. The Constructivist Approach to Explain National Identity . New York: Columbia University Press. In the context of the global war on terror, US efforts to extract intelligence from suspected terrorists led to the use of enhanced interrogation techniques which was widely seen to have abrogated or contested the global prohibition on the use of torture (Steele 2008a; see also Birdsall (2016) who argues that it worked to strengthen the anti-torture norm). 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