Constructivism in international relations

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In international relations, constructivism is the application of constructivist epistemology to the study of world affairs.

This field is perhaps most closely associated with Alexander Wendt, as he has applied the ideas of social constructionism to the field of international relations. Wendt’s article "Anarchy 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 showing how 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 opens the way for a generation of international relations scholars who pursue work in a wide range of issues from a constructivist perspective.

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, constructivism has become one of the major theories in the field of international relations. Ruggie^[1] and others have identified several strands of constructivism. On the one hand, there are constructivist scholars such as Martha Finnemore, 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. Richard Ashley, Friedrich Krachtochwil, Nicholas Onuf, and others still work in this area of constructivism, albeit largely outside of both mainstream IR and mainstream constructivist literature.

Many constructivists analyze international relations 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, The Culture of National Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), constructivist scholars (Elizabeth Kier, Jeffrey Legro, Peter Katzenstein, and many others) challenge many traditional realist assumptions about how the international system operates, especially with regard to military security issues.

By focusing on how language and rhetoric are used to construct the social reality of the international system, constructivists are seen as more optimistic about progress in international relations than versions of realism loyal to a purely materialist ontology.

Constructivism is often mistakenly presented as an alternative to the two leading theories of international relations, realism and liberalism, but is not necessarily inconsistent with either. Wendt shares some key assumptions with leading realist and neorealist 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).

Contents 1 Notable constructivists in IR 2 See also 3 External links 4 Notes

[edit] Notable constructivists in IR

• P. Stephen Waring
• Michael Barnett
• Ted Hopf
• David Evangelidis
• Nicholas Onuf
• Elizabeth Kier
• Martha Finnemore
• Peter J. Katzenstein
• Richard Ned Lebow
• John Ruggie
• Frank Schimmelfennig
• Kathryn Sikkink
• Alexander Wendt
• Ole Wæver
• Barry Buzan
• Thomas Risse

[edit] See also

• Constructivism
• Constructivist epistemology

[edit] External links

• IR theory database

[edit] Notes