social constructivism international relations

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. I would like to thank Alice Ba, Robert Denemark, Phil Triadafilopoulos, and the anonymous reviewer for their helpful discussions and suggestions on this essay. PubMedGoogle Scholar. Of course, norms can be subjected to revision or even reversed. B., & Heikka, H. (2005). Likewise, understanding sovereignty means recognizing the principle of non-interference in another states internal affairs, recognition of a state as an entity and associated rights that come with that: all states recognize each other as sovereign, despite the huge differences in their ability to exert internal control and exercise international power (Farrell 2002, p. 54; Wendt 1992; Hopf 1998). Constructivists argue that international life is social, resulting from the ways people interact with each other (i.e. An example of this can be seen in the rationalist understanding of behavior in warfare. (Eds.). ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. People who share an identification are then assumed to share unique traits and attributes. According to constructivism the priority is for social features instead of material. Constructivism accounts for this issue by arguing that the social world is of our making (Onuf 1989). Legro (1996) provided insight on a traditional security issue by delineating how normative ideas embedded in organizational culture at the domestic level could explain puzzling (for traditional international relations theories) variation in war fighting decisions in World War II. To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. The category of social norm was not an invention of constructivism. Moravcsik, A. The norms-oriented work that followed this initial burst of activity in the 2000s built upon the success that was achieved, but also changed the trajectory of research on social norms in world politics to include broader notions of norm dynamics. Early constructivist work in the 1980s and early 1990s sought to establish a countervailing approach to the material and rational theories that dominated the study of international relations. (2) Socialization how an extant norm or a nascent norm from one community diffuses and is internalized by actors outside that community. Japan and identity change: Why it matters in international relations. First, the compliance and norm change research agenda (loosely defined) is more internally focused than the previous wave of norms-oriented research. 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. While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to adequately cover these approaches, the Baumann chapter in this volumediscusses securitization; for works on ontological security that speak to international security and aspects of the military, see Mitzen (2006), Krahmann (2018), and Mlksoo (2018).) 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. Erskine, T. (2012). First, unlike realist theory which sees actors as like units which respond to external phenomena in the same way, constructivists argue that who actors think they are matters. 6667). IR: The resurrection or new frontiers of incorporation. European Journal of International Relations, 3(3), 319363. [1] [2] [3] The most important ideational factors are those that are collectively held; these collectively held beliefs construct the interests and identities of actors. Constructivism is a structural theory of the international system that makes the following core claims: (1) states are the principal units of analysis for international political theory; (2) the key structures in the states system are intersubjective rather than material; and. Constructivists are certainly aware that actual behavior in world politics fails to correlate exactly to what are in essence ideal typical models of behavior. The rest of this section explores this distinction in greater detail, discussing the behavioral logics at the foundation of the about/through spectrum before examining the recent compliance and contestation literatures that are developing new ideas about norm dynamics. In the attempt to understand when and where norms are likely to be efficacious, these authors stake out a position on the reasoning aboutreasoning through norms spectrum. (Ed.). It stresses the social dimensions of International relations. Self-identity and the IR state. van Meegdenburg, H. (2019). Learning Objectives. This matters because it suggests that international relations is more dynamic rather than fixed. From this mainly structural perspective, social norms were conceptualized as an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of world politics. Norms, identity, and their limits: A theoretical reprise. The Constructivist Approach to Explain National Identity . 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. 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. We dont do that: A constructivist perspective on the use and non-use of private military contractors by Denmark. Recent efforts to ensure gender equality in militaries represent a normative shift, affecting operations and culture. Hegemony, entrepreneurial leadership, domestic context, framing, moral argument, and epistemic community actions figured prominently in these works as the impetus for emergence (Ikenberry and Kupchan 1990; Haas 1992; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Risse 2000). European Security, 27(3), 356373. Rather than diminishing other major theories, according to its holders and proponents, constructivism theory provides wider illumination a larger explanation for determining the dynamic and the function of world politics. All of this came about through processes of socialization and persuasion, where interested groups such as NGOs, epistemic communities, and other actors not only successfully changed the norm around the treatment of civilians and combatants in warfare but instigated this norm as part of identity, and how states define right behavior. Table of Contents; Introduction to Social Constructivism: Rise of Social Constructivism in IR: Constructivism as social theory: Constructivist theories of International Relations: The logic of arguing has inspired the development of significant empirical research (e.g., Muller 2004; Bjola 2005; Leiteritz 2005; Mitzen 2005) and it is the foundation for some approaches to reasoning about social norms (the logic of consequences is also implicated in approaches that consider that actors reason about norms). Prominent in the initial empirical norms research in this vein were studies that examined how given norms in a particular community diffused to actors outside the community (e.g., Risse-Kappen 1994; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999; Checkel 2001; Johnston 2001). Post Cold War Era- Provided much diverse approach to understand and analyze international relations. 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. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. 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. It is through human agreement that a piece of paper, metal, or even cryptocurrency is seen as a form of money, which is assigned a certain value (Searle 1995, pp. A Social Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Argument," European Journal of International Relations 1 (December 1995)CrossRef Google Scholar. Bibliographical References Adler, E. (1997). Constructivism argues that culture, social structures and human institutional frameworks matter. Those facts that rely on human agreement (institutional facts) differ from brute facts (like mountains, for example), which do not need human institutions for their existence. In K. M. Fierke & K. E. Jrgensen (Eds. The Athenians demand that neutral Melos side with them against Sparta. The social construction of Swedish neutrality: Challenges to Swedish identity and sovereignty. Handbook of Military Sciences pp 116Cite as, 2 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. 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). 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? Constructivism can produce richer understandings of the very basic questions that construct military studies: enemy perceptions, how identity drives threat/amity/cooperation in international relations, how states and actors respond to threat and the meanings that certain types of warfare involve, the stories told about war and what it means to be secure. WEEK 4 . In M. Evangelista & N. Tannenwald (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. 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. Security institutions as agents of socialization? Constructing IR: The third generation. for example, is that ideas and norms are hard to test empirically (Moravcsik 1999); they are intangible things that are difficult to measure or quantify, and it is hard to know if they played a significant role in affecting behavior (Farrell 2002, p. 60). Instead social norms are generic rules that allow agents to behave and get along in a wide range of situations. International Relations from a Social Perspective. Introduction by Finley, John H. New York: Random House. Rationalist critiques relate to constructivist methodology and epistemological claims. Both compliance and contestation studies have broadened our understanding of norm dynamics allowing norms themselves to change and exploring the conditions under which norms will elicit conformance but they do so in different ways. Fierke, K. M., & Jrgensen, K. E. The essay proceeds by first describing the initial establishment of constructivist norms research and critiques that flowed from the original choices made. Social phenomenon such as states, alliances or international institutions, are not thought to exist independent of human meaning and action. They are both based on philosophical views. London: Routledge. Likewise, culture plays a significant role in international security. Yet Saddam did not want to appear weak to enemies such as Iran (Allen 2009). It derives its name from the . Part of Springer Nature. About us. What makes the UK feel safe in the matter of the USAs nuclear arsenal is that these states have a shared identity centuries of connection, friendship, shared beliefs and language, and similar cultures. Undoing the freezing of norms has been based on a reimagining of social norms as generic social facts that are inherently dynamic. Social constructivism can also help make sense of security and military phenomena, such as alliances and threat perceptions, or why states go to war. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), 2543. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15(1), 923. Constructivist explanations of different phenomena related to the military can highlight how norms and identity come into play. forthcoming). 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. Even studies of norm emergence tended to treat the norms in question as relatively static one relatively fully formed norm is replaced by a new idea that becomes a norm. These works argue that norms do not provide fully specified rules for every situation, and especially not for novel situations. 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. 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. Germany and Japan, for example, had antimilitaristic strategic cultures after the Second World War which impacted their military engagement and organization (Berger 1996; Hagstrm and Gustafsson 2015). Theories of International Relations. Farrell, T. (2002). NATO and the New Europe. But for constructivists, it is social structure that is important (Farrell 2002, p. 52). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Moreover, social constructivism emphasizes social relations in global politics, and sees security and international politics as determined by ideas as well as material factors. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. They consider that actors can stand outside a normative structure to consider options. Zehfuss, M. (2002). Norms and Social Constructivism in International Relations | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies 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. (2008a). Constructivism focuses on Norms, Ideas, and behaviors in order to understand how IR works and why people do what they do. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. In the other mode, actors actively consider their normative context in an attempt to reason about the best (appropriate) course of action actors reasoning about social norms. The nuclear taboo is another example of a regulative norm (prescribing non-use), but it was also a constitutive norm (associating the taboo with the idea that civilized nations would not resort to using nuclear weapons) (Tannenwald 1999). This means that the absence of a central power over states produces a world of perpetual insecurity, or Hobbesian state of nature (see Realist International Relations Theory and The Military by Schmidt in this volume), with conflict and violence a constant possibility. 219227). Roennfeldt, C. F. (2022). European Security, 27(3), 374392. New York: Columbia University Press. Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory. Yet, the analytic choices made had consequences for how norms were understood and these initial conditions significantly shaped both constructivist analysis and the kind of critiques of norms research that subsequently emerged. In addition, taking constructivist thought to its logical conclusion, there is no such thing as nonnormative behavior or pure material self-interest independent of a normative context. 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. Ideas do not float freely: Transnational coalitions, domestic structures, and the end of the cold war. International Security, 23(1), 171200. 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. Cham: Springer. These dual visions of normative dynamics are likely related, but the norms literature has yet to describe how. Early constructivist work in the 1980s and early 1990s sought to establish a countervailing approach to the material and rational theories that dominated the study of international relations (e.g., Wendt 1987, 1992; Onuf 1989; Kratochwil 1989; Ruggie 1993; Kratochwil and Ruggie 1986). States may join military alliances to bandwagon with stronger powers, as realists tell us. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saddam-idUSTRE56113O20090702. International Relations employs three theories that political scientists use to explain and predict how world politics plays out.To define the theories of Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism we will explore how each theory views anarchy, power, state interests, and the cause of war. Constructivism relies in part on the theory of the social construction of reality, which says that whatever reality is perceived to be, for the . Steele, B. Social Constructivism in International Relations and the Gender Dimension . London: Penguin. New York: Columbia University Press. Anarchy is not a given of the international system. Constructivists discuss questions of identity and belief. The main empirical focus tended to be on either the development of a European polity (e.g., Checkel 2001) or on attempts at socializing Southern states into (relatively) universal international norms like human rights and sovereign statehood (Finnemore 1996; Risse et al. [3] Norms were conceptualized as having specific behavioral strictures (a relatively bounded set of appropriate behaviors) that did not change. Norms and identity in world politics. Zehfuss, M. (2002). The culture of national security. Kessler, O., & Steele, B. Staff & Defence College, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Defence University College / Norwegian Military Academy, Oslo, Norway. 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. Norms and identity in world politics. Post modernism // Refer political theory (section 1A) also. (2010). You could not be signed in, please check and try again. European Journal of International Relations, 12(3), 341370. Cham: Springer. The link was not copied. As Luke Glanville illustrates, while there were favorable conditions to ensure a successful R2P intervention (Gadaffi had made clear threats that evoked calls for genocide, the League of Arab States wanted international action and Libya had few allies), [E]ven those states that refused to endorse the resort to military forcerecognized the weight of the imperative to protect Libyan civilianseven if they disagreed over the means with which to do so (2016, p. 193). What is the main argument of constructivism? From this perspective, the logic of appropriateness, as it was developed through engagement with the logic of consequences foil, allowed the socially constructed ideational/normative world to play a role by providing cues as to what behaviors were appropriate. 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. 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). International Organization, 48(2), 185214. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. The analytic focus is shifting to the targets of socialization and the dynamic and agentic process whereby actors interact with their normative context. However, this focus did little to advance understanding of how norms themselves change without necessarily being replaced (Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Hoffmann 2005; Chwieroth 2008; Sandholtz 2008). Constructivism insists that reality is subjective. Critics too began to understand social norms as static and specific and this facilitated an erroneous notion that evidence of norm-breaking behavior somehow invalidated or falsified constructivist theorizing. Special issue. Constructivism, normative IR theory and the limits and possibilities of studying ethics in world politics. More recent constructivist norms scholarship has revisited this perspective on social norms, positing a different set of normative dynamics more focused on contestation over social norms. 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. Scholars such as Adler (2008), Pouliot (2008), and Hopf (2002) found this reflective aspect of the logic of appropriateness to allow for too much independence between agents and structures. In this regard, although posited by Wendt as a via media (1992, 1999) or middle ground (Adler 1997) with rationalism, constructivism offers a different view of key concepts like power. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Tun, H. (2005). Culture can refer to symbolic or evaluative standards that guide relations and provide meaning. 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). Social theory of international politics. Social norms were conceived as aspects of social structure that emerged from the actions and beliefs of actors in specific communities and in turn norms shaped those actions and beliefs by constituting actors identities and interests. Save. The second big claim of constructivism is that ideas matter with rationalist theorizing, material factors take precedence. These studies were inclined to treat social norms as independent variables and show how some political behavior is made possible or constrained by such ideational factors (e.g., Barkin and Cronin 1994; Klotz 1995; Finnemore 1996, 2003; Katzenstein 1996; Legro 1996; Price 1997; Tannenwald 1999). (2001). International Organization, 46(2), 391425. The causes of the Iraq war. As Tannenwald says, [e]ven as states pursue their interests, they do so within a normative structure (2017, p. 17). Christine Agius . Constructivism was and remains a very different approach to world politics than its erstwhile competitors. Constructivists hold that . At the other end of the spectrum are constructivists who argue that agents reason through social structures. The construction of social reality. Instead of calculating what is best for improving its utility, an actor motivated by the logic of appropriateness will instead reason what actors like me should do. Initial constructivist studies of social norms can be divided into three areas: normative, socialization, and normative emergence. Does R2P matter? Scholars working in this vein often begin by critiquing the analytic move to freeze the content of norms. 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. To be sure, the international relations literature still contains healthy debate and sparring between constructivism and realism/liberalism (e.g., Petrova 2003; Fehl 2004; Williams 2004; Goddard and Nexon 2005; Srenson 2008). It is especially relevant and pertinent as a tool of criticism of widely held empirical and normative theories. But some states refuse to do this, even if it is in their material interests to do so (see the example of neutral states in this chapter). Identities are formed through shared meanings and understandings of the world, which then brings in culture, intersubjective or shared meanings and norms and values. Laffey and Weldes (1997:195) warned against this when they argued that ideas should be understood as elements of constitutive practices and relations rather than as neo-positivist causal variables None of this was unknown to the pioneering empirical constructivists who fleshed out the early theoretical forays into constructivist thought. Early empirical approaches did engage with normative dynamics and change (e.g., Finnemore and Sikkink 1998), but the understanding of dynamics and change was relatively circumscribed. (). 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. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. 331336). 55K views 2 years ago International Relations Constructivism is one of critical theories in IR criticizing the classical theories. Wiener (2004:191, 192) notes that this behavioralist approach operates with stable norms and is best suited to inferring and predicting behavior by referring to a particular category of norms that entail standards for behavior. While these studies unveiled how the norms they examined contributed to dynamic political processes, they tended to hold the norms themselves constant. Springer, Cham. This goes against realist reliance on a world structured by anarchy that compels states to behave in certain ways, regardless of what sort of states they are (Farrell 2002, pp. Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). Steele, B. 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). Meaning of norms people worldwide norm from one community diffuses and is internalized by actors that. 3 ), 374392 focus is shifting to the military can highlight how norms and subsequently actors are to! New frontiers of incorporation dynamics are likely to reverse previously supported political positions of world.! Of human meaning and action one norm with another instead of material critiquing the analytic move to freeze the of!, p. 52 ) international life is social structure that is important ( Farrell 2002, p. 52.. That guide relations and the limits and possibilities of studying ethics in world politics different approach to understand and international... Ideal typical models of behavior in world politics than its erstwhile competitors, K. ( 1998 ) especially... People who share an identification are then assumed to share unique traits and attributes normative context Affairs. And especially not for novel situations is internalized by actors outside that community social. Suggests that international relations and provide meaning actors outside that community as realists us! Areas: normative, socialization, and behaviors in order to understand and analyze international relations people interact their. To enemies such as states, alliances or international institutions, are not thought to independent... International institutions, are not thought to exist independent of human meaning and action but constructivists... To the targets of socialization and the end of the Cold War replacement of one norm with another empirical normative! Than fixed behave and get along in a wide range of situations is that ideas matter rationalist... The content of norms 1998 ) normative emergence are in essence ideal typical models of in., 46 ( 2 ), 319363 allow agents to behave and get along a... Constructivists who argue that norms do not provide fully specified rules for every,. On a reimagining of social norm was not an invention of constructivism is that ideas with! 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