In the discipline of
international relationsInternational relations or International studies represents the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , non-governmental organizations , and multinational corporations...
,
constructivismConstructivist epistemology is an epistemological perspective in philosophy about the nature of scientific knowledge. Constructivists maintain that scientific knowledge is constructed by scientists and not discovered from the world. Constructivism believes that there is no single valid methodology...
is the claim that significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially contingent, rather than inevitable consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics .
Development
Nicholas OnufNicholas Onuf is one of the primary figures among Constructivists in international relations. His best known contribution to Constructivism is set out in World of Our Making...
is usually credited with coining the term "constructivism" to describe approaches to the study of world politics that stress the socially constructed character of international relations. Contemporary constructivist theory traces its roots to pioneering work not only by Onuf, but also by Richard Ashley,
Friedrich KratochwilFriedrich Kratochwil is a German university professor who studied at the University of Munich before migrating to the United States, then subsequently returning to Europe...
, and
John RuggieJohn Gerard Ruggie is the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Affiliated Professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School...
. Nevertheless,
Alexander WendtAlexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. Wendt and scholars such as Nicholas Onuf, Peter J...
is the best-known advocate of
social constructionismSocial constructionism and social constructivism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in social contexts...
in the field of
international relationsInternational relations or International studies represents the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , non-governmental organizations , and multinational corporations...
. Wendt’s article "
AnarchyAnarchy in international relations is a concept in international relations theory holding that the world system is leaderless: there is no universal sovereign or worldwide government...
is What States Make of It: the Social Construction of Power Politics" (1992) in
International Organization laid the theoretical groundwork for challenging what he considered to be a flaw shared by both neorealists and neoliberal institutionalists, namely, a commitment to a (crude) form of materialism. By attempting to show that even such a core realist concept as "power politics" is socially constructed—-that is, not given by nature and hence, capable of being transformed by human practice--Wendt opened the way for a generation of international relations scholars to pursue work in a wide range of issues from a constructivist perspective. Wendt further developed these ideas in his central work,
Social Theory of International Politics (1999).
Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, constructivism has become one of the major schools of thought within international relations.
John RuggieJohn Gerard Ruggie is the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Affiliated Professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School...
and others have identified several strands of constructivism. On the one hand, there are constructivist scholars such as
Martha FinnemoreMartha Gail Finnemore is a prominent constructivist scholar of international relations, and a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is best known for her books: National Interests in International Society and The Purpose of Intervention...
, Kathryn Sikkink, Peter Katzenstein, and Alexander Wendt whose work has been widely accepted within the mainstream IR community and has generated vibrant scholarly discussions among realists, liberals, institutionalists, and constructivists. On the other hand, there are radical constructivists who take discourse and linguistics more seriously. Ashley, Kratochwil, and Onuf, still work in this area of constructivism, but most of its practitioners were trained or now work in Europe.
Theory
Constructivism primarily seeks to demonstrate how many core aspects of international relations are, contrary to the assumptions of
NeorealismNeorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations, outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book Theory of International Politics. Waltz argues in favor of a systemic approach: the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior, so that only states whose outcomes...
and
NeoliberalismIn the study of international relations, neoliberalism refers to a school of thought which believes that nation-states are, or at least should be, concerned first and foremost with absolute gains rather than relative gains to other nation-states...
,
socially constructed, that is, they are given their form by ongoing processes of social practice and interaction.
Alexander WendtAlexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. Wendt and scholars such as Nicholas Onuf, Peter J...
calls two increasingly accepted basic tenets of Constructivism "(1) that the structures of human association are determined primarily by shared ideas rather than material forces, and (2) that the identities and interests of purposive actors are constructed by these shared ideas rather than given by nature".
Challenging Realism
Because
NeorealismNeorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations, outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book Theory of International Politics. Waltz argues in favor of a systemic approach: the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior, so that only states whose outcomes...
was, during Constructivism's formative period, the dominant discourse of International Relations, much of Constructivism's initial theoretical work is in challenging certain basic
NeorealistNeorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations, outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book Theory of International Politics. Waltz argues in favor of a systemic approach: the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior, so that only states whose outcomes...
assumptions. Neorealists are fundamentally causal
Structuralists, in that they hold that the majority of important content to international politics is explained by the structure of the international system, a position first advanced in
Kenneth Waltz'sKenneth Neal Waltz is a member of the faculty at Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars of international relations alive today...
Man, the State and War and fully elucidated in his core text of Neorealism,
Theory of International Politics. Specifically, international politics is primarily determined by the fact that the international system is
anarchicAnarchy in international relations is a concept in international relations theory holding that the world system is leaderless: there is no universal sovereign or worldwide government...
- it lacks any overarching authority, instead it is composed of units (
statesA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
) which are formally equal - they are all sovereign over their own territory. Such anarchy, Neorealists argue, forces States to act in certain ways, specific, they can rely on no-one but themselves for security (they have to
Self-help). The way in which anarchy forces them to act in such ways, to defend their own self-interest in terms of power, Neorealists argue, explains most of international politics. Because of this, Neorealists tend to disregard explanations of international politics at the 'unit' or 'state' level. Such a focus Kenneth Waltz attacked as being
reductionistReductionism can either mean an approach to understand the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be...
.
Constructivism, particularly in the formative work of Wendt, challenges this assumption by showing that the causal powers attributed to 'Structure' by Neorealists are in fact not 'given', but rest on the way in which Structure is constructed by social practice. Removed from presumptions about the nature of the identities and interests of the actors in the system, and the meaning that social institutions (including Anarchy) have for such actors, Neorealism's 'structure' reveals, Wendt argues, very little, "it does not predict whether two states will be friends or foes, will recognize each other's sovereignty, will have dynastic ties, will be revisionist or status quo powers, and so on". Because such features of behavior are not explained by Anarchy, and require instead the incorporation of evidence about the interests and identities held by key actors, Neorealism's focus on the material structure of the system (Anarchy) is misplaced. But Wendt goes further than this - arguing that because the way in which Anarchy constrains states depends on the way in which States conceive of Anarchy, and conceive of their own identities and interests, Anarchy is not necessarily even a 'self-help' system. It only forces states to self-help if they conform to Neorealist assumptions about states as seeing security as a competitive, relative concept, where the gain of security for any one state means the loss of security for another. If States instead hold alternative conceptions of security, either 'co-operative', where states can maximise their security without negatively affecting the security of another, or 'collective' where states identify the security of other states as being valuable to themselves, Anarchy will not lead to self-help at all. Neorealist conclusions, as such, depend entirely on unspoken and unquestioned assumptions about the way in which the meaning of social institutions are constructed by actors. Crucially, because Neorealists fail to recognize this dependence, they falsely assume that such meanings are unchangeable, and exclude the study of the processes of social construction which actually do the key explanatory work behind Neorealist observations.
Identities and interests
As Constructivists reject Neorealism's conclusions about the determining effect of anarchy on the behavior of international actors, and move away from Neorealism's underlying materialism, they create the necessary room for the identities and interests of international actors to take a central place in theorizing international relations. Now that actors are not simply governed by the imperatives of a self-help system, their identities and interests become important in analyzing how they behave. Like the nature of the international system, Constructivists see such identities and interests as not objectively grounded in material forces (such as dictates of the human nature that underpins Classical Realism) but the result of ideas and the social construction of such ideas.
Martha FinnemoreMartha Gail Finnemore is a prominent constructivist scholar of international relations, and a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is best known for her books: National Interests in International Society and The Purpose of Intervention...
has been influential in examining the way in which international organizations are involved in these processes of the social construction of actor's perceptions of their interests. In
National Interests In International Society, Finnemore attempts to "develop a systemic approach to understanding state interests and state behavior by investigating an international structure, not of power, but of meaning and social value". "Interests", she explains, "are not just 'out there' waiting to be discovered; they are constructed through social interaction". Finnemore provides three case studies of such construction - the creation of Science Bureaucracies in states due to the influence of
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
, the role of the Red Cross in the
Geneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating...
and the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
's influence of attitudes to
povertyPoverty is the condition of lacking basic human needs such as nutrition, clean water, health care, clothing, and shelter because of the inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution...
.
Studies of such processes are examples of the Constructivist attitude towards state interests and identities. Such interests and identities are central determinants of state behavior, as such studying their nature and their formation is integral in Constructivist methodology to explaining the international system. But it is important to note that despite this refocus onto identities and interests - properties of States - Constructivists are not necessarily wedded to focusing their analysis at the unit-level of international politics: the state. Constructivists such as Finnemore and Wendt both emphasize that while ideas and processes tend to explain the social construction of identities and interests, such ideas and processes form a structure of their own which impact upon international actors. Their central difference from Neorealists is to see this International Structure as being primarily ideational rather than material in nature.
Research areas
Many constructivists analyze
international relationsInternational relations or International studies represents the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , non-governmental organizations , and multinational corporations...
by looking at the goals, threats, fears, cultures, identities, and other elements of "social reality" on the international stage as the social constructs of the actors. In a key edited volume, constructivist scholars challenge many traditional realist assumptions about how the international system operates, especially with regard to military security issues. Thomas J. Biersteker and Cynthia Weber have applied constructivism to understand the evolution of state sovereignty as a central theme in international relations, and works by Rodney Bruce Hall and Daniel Philpott (among others) have developed constructivist theories of major transformations in the dynamics of international politics. In
international political economyInternational political economy is an academic discipline within the social sciences that analyzes international relations in combination with political economy. As an interdisciplinary field it draws on many distinct academic schools, most notably political science and economics, but also...
, the application of constructivism has been less frequent. Notable examples of constructivist work in this area include Kathleen R. McNamara's study of European Monetary Union and Mark Blyth's analysis of the rise of
ReaganomicsReaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by United States President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s...
in the United States.
By focusing on how language and rhetoric are used to construct the social reality of the international system, constructivists are often seen as more optimistic about progress in international relations than versions of
realismRealism, also known as political realism , is a school of international relations that prioritizes national interest and security, rather than ideals, social reconstructions, or ethics...
loyal to a purely materialist ontology, but a growing number of constructivists question the "liberal" character of constructivist thought and express greater sympathy for realist pessimism concerning the possibility of emancipation from power politics.
Constructivism is often presented as an alternative to the two leading theories of international relations,
realismRealism, also known as political realism , is a school of international relations that prioritizes national interest and security, rather than ideals, social reconstructions, or ethics...
and
liberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
, but some maintain that it is not necessarily inconsistent with one either or both. Wendt shares some key assumptions with leading realist and
neorealistNeorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations, outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book Theory of International Politics. Waltz argues in favor of a systemic approach: the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior, so that only states whose outcomes...
scholars, such as the existence of anarchy and the centrality of states in the international system. However, Wendt renders anarchy in cultural rather than materialist terms; he also offers a sophisticated theoretical defense of the state-as-actor assumption in international relations theory. This is a contentious issue within segments of the IR community as some constructivists challenge Wendt on some of these assumptions (see, for example, exchanges in Review of International Studies, vol. 30, 2004).
Recent Developments
A significant group of scholars who study processes of social construction self-consciously eschew the label "Constructivist." They argue that "mainstream" constructivism has abandoned many of the most important insights from linguistic-turn and social-constructionist theory in the pursuit of respectability as a "scientific" approach to international relations. Even some putatively "mainstream" constructivists, such as Jeffrey Checkel, have expressed concern that constructivists have gone too far in their efforts to build bridges with non-constructivist schools of thought.
A growing number of constructivists contend that current theories pay inadequate attention to the role of habitual and unreflective behavior in world politics. These advocates of the "practice turn" take inspiration from work in
neuroscienceNeuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Such studies span the structure, function, evolutionary history, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, informatics, computational neuroscience and pathology of the nervous system.The International Brain Research...
, as well as that of social theorists such as
Pierre Bourdieu
Pierre Bourdieu was an acclaimed French sociologist.Bourdieu pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and the concepts of habitus, field or location, and symbolic violence to reveal the dynamics of power relations in social life...
, that stresses the significance of habit in psychological and social life.
Notable constructivists in IR
- Emanuel Adler
- Michael Barnett
Michael N. Barnett is a major constructivist scholar of international relations. His research has been in the areas of international organizations, international relations theory, and Middle Eastern politics. With Emanuel Adler, he reintroduced the concept of security community to international...
- Thomas J. Biersteker
- Didier Bigo
- Mark Blyth
- Barry Buzan
Barry Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin University. He has published and broadcast extensively in the field of international relations...
- Jeffrey T. Checkel
- Karin Fierke
- Martha Finnemore
Martha Gail Finnemore is a prominent constructivist scholar of international relations, and a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is best known for her books: National Interests in International Society and The Purpose of Intervention...
- Patricia Goff
- Stefano Guzzini
- Ernst B. Haas
Ernst Bernard Haas was an American political scientist who made numerous contributions to theoretical discussions in the field of international relations....
- Peter M. Haas
Peter M. Haas is a professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Karl Deutsch Visiting Professor at the Wisseschaftszentrum Berlin....
- Rodney Bruce Hall
- Ted Hopf
- Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
- A. Iain Johnston
- Peter J. Katzenstein
Peter Katzenstein is the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. He was educated in his native Germany. Katzenstein has received degrees from the London School of Economics, Swarthmore College, as well as a Ph.D. from Harvard University...
- Elizabeth Kier
- Audie Klotz
- Friedrich Kratochwil
Friedrich Kratochwil is a German university professor who studied at the University of Munich before migrating to the United States, then subsequently returning to Europe...
- Richard Ned Lebow
Richard Ned Lebow is an American political scientist best known for his work in international relations and U.S. foreign policy. He is a noted constructivist and expert on strategies of conflict management, the Cold War, the politics of memory and ancient Greek politics and literature.Lebow is the...
- Iver Neumann
- Jeffrey Legro
- Cecelia Lynch
- Kathleen R. McNamara
- Nicholas Onuf
Nicholas Onuf is one of the primary figures among Constructivists in international relations. His best known contribution to Constructivism is set out in World of Our Making...
- Vincent Pouliot
- Thomas Risse
Thomas Risse is a Berlin based international relations scholar. He is currently heading the chair for “transnationational relations, foreign- and security policy” at Otto-Suhr Institute for Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin...
- John Ruggie
John Gerard Ruggie is the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Affiliated Professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School...
- Chris Reus-Smit
Chris Reus-Smit is Professor and Head of the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University. He is a leading constructivist scholar in the field of international relations, and is arguably Australia's pre-eminent scholar in the field...
- Frank Schimmelfennig
Frank Schimmelfennig is a professor of European politics at the Center for Comparative and International Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.-Academic career:...
- Kathryn Sikkink
- Nina Tannenwald
- J. Ann Tickner
J. Ann Tickner is a feminist international relations theorist. She is a professor at the School of International Relations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles...
- Ole Wæver
Ole Wæver is a professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. He has published and broadcast extensively in the field of international relations, and is one of the main architects of the so-called Copenhagen School in International...
- Alexander Wendt
Alexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. Wendt and scholars such as Nicholas Onuf, Peter J...
See also
- Constructivism
Constructivism in Psychology concerns the world of constructivist psychologies. The constructivist psychologies theorize about and investigate how human beings create systems for meaningfully understanding their worlds and experiences...
- Constructivist epistemology
Constructivist epistemology is an epistemological perspective in philosophy about the nature of scientific knowledge. Constructivists maintain that scientific knowledge is constructed by scientists and not discovered from the world. Constructivism believes that there is no single valid methodology...
- English school of international relations theory
Further reading
- Burke, Kenneth M. (2009). Global Politics of the Mind: Constructivism in Education and International Political Theory. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG.
External links