115135). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_105-1, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_105-1, eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science & International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences, Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips, Not logged in As Tannenwald says, [e]ven as states pursue their interests, they do so within a normative structure (2017, p. 17). Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. 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. This logic fitted well with the commitment to mutual constitution (the notion of what is appropriate for different identities is socially constructed) and it also laid the groundwork for the norms-based challenge to strictly material explanations of world politics. 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. 1999; Jacobsen 2003). These works argue that norms do not provide fully specified rules for every situation, and especially not for novel situations. The Constructivist Approach to Explain National Identity . The Peloponnesian War. Yet, Wittgenstein's notion of family resemblances helps in understanding why an essence of constructivism need not be found. 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. The inescapable tension between general rules and specific actions ceaselessly casts up disputes which in turn generate arguments, which then reshape both rules and conduct. The logical chain from general norms to contestation is not long. 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). PS: Political Science and Politics, 50(1), 7174. (One of the foundational texts that covers chapters on security and strategic culture, albeit from a mainly conventional perspective). Cooperation and Conflict, 49(4), 519535. The irreducible core of constructivism for international relations is the recognition that international reality is socially constructed. To be specific, I navigated core tenets of constructivism in terms of its ontology, epistemology, and methodology, respectively. 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). 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). 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). Norms are born anew every day as actors instantiate them through their beliefs and actions and, as Sandholtz (2008:101) notes, normative structures, in other words, cannot stand still.. Recent efforts to ensure gender equality in militaries represent a normative shift, affecting operations and culture. In more historical examples, states that chose neutrality during times of war did so against strong material factors that would have potentially granted them safety and survival had they opted to join one side or the other. Berger, T. U. 451497). Two strands of research, on the relations between strategic behaviour and international norms and between rationalism and constructivism, serve as examples of promising research in constructivist international relations theory. The International Affairs Forum (2020), states that constructivists use both material and non-material explanations of social constructs. Keywords Constructivists International norms International relations Rationalism Strategic behaviour Rather than passive receptacles, norm takers have a very active role to play in socialization and can influence the meaning of the norms that constitute the very community they are being asked to join (Ba 2006). European Security, 27(3), 356373. International Relations, 22(2), 243261. The dominant belief about identities in our societies is essentialism. Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory. Identity informs preferences and interests, so to understand why certain states behave the way they do on the international stage, paying attention to how their identities drive their interests and actions matters. For example, when considering what national identity means for a state like the UK, critical constructivists would include forgotten experiences or identities that make up its multicultural society, rather than just define British identity as white. Instead, norms are general principles that must be translated into specific actions (Gregg 2003). - Checkel (1998) argues that "without more sustained attention . By Fizza Hameed Khan, Mahnoor Iqbal, Malaika Shahbaz, Sidra Noor, Raniya Ishtiaq. In this regard Social Constructivism ushers itself in, in the discipline of International Relations as a new alternative to the traditional theories that have hitherto monopolized the way political scientists have been viewing the inter - and intrastate events. London: Routledge. 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. Combining the beliefs, norms and values of influential individuals, as well as the state as a whole, creates its identity, which then influences its behaviors. An example of this can be seen in the case of Libya in 2011, which is broadly hailed as a successful R2P intervention. Initial constructivist studies of social norms can be divided into three areas: normative, socialization, and normative emergence. 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. (Wendts book is vital reading for all constructivist scholars and his ontological and epistemological position on constructivism is set out more fully here. 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. 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. 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. This analytic move facilitated conversation and competition with rational/material theoretical competitors. INRODUCTION T O INTERNA TIONAL RELA TION THEO RIES 23/10/2018. Social constructivism is not among the most popular theoretical approaches used in forecasting in International Relations. In order to better understand compliance with and contestation over norms either in isolation or together, it is necessary to pay more attention to the prior understanding of who is in the community. The way in which issues are constructed and interpreted as threatening can also depend heavily on identity and views of the external realm. International norms dynamics and political change. 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). Constructivism is a theory of knowledge which argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning through world interactions and ideas. This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. 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. This matters because it suggests that international relations is more dynamic rather than fixed. Abstract. States may join military alliances to bandwagon with stronger powers, as realists tell us. Constructivists are often too fast and loose with the use of the term norm without a concomitant discussion of what the community of norm acceptors looks like and by what criteria we can identify a community of norm acceptors. Wiener (2007) has advanced what she is calling a new logic of contestedness and has explored (2004) the dynamics of interpretation and contestation in European responses to the 2003 Iraq War. And while the focus on norms is important, there is an overwhelming tendency to examine good norms theres often the assumption that norms are good or ethical without critically analyzing what makes them good and what they mean for international change (Erskine 2012; Kowert and Legro 1996). Constructivists argue that international life is social, resulting from the ways people interact with each other (i.e. ), The culture of national security. NATO and the New Europe. Social Constructivist International Relations and the Military. 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). How are self-understandings and identity constituted in the international realm? ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. 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). 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.) Bjrkdahl, A. 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. In addition to considering how the two types of norm dynamics are related, the current norms literature brings traditional open questions in constructivism into sharp relief. Norms and identity in world politics. IR: The resurrection or new frontiers of incorporation. Making sense, making worlds: Constructivism in social theory and international relations. Steele, B. 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). 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. 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. How strong is the nuclear taboo today? Post Cold War Era- Provided much diverse approach to understand and analyze international relations. Social Constructivism in International Relations and the Gender Dimension . 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385. Critiques Lack a theory of agency: - According to Hopt (The Promise of Constructivism in international relations theory, 1998), constructivism is an approach, not a theory; or at most a theory of process. The first wave of empirical constructivist studies tended to freeze norms. When actors follow the logic of arguing, they seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Steele, B., Gould, H., & Kessler, O. (2016). Roennfeldt, C. F. (2022). 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. If any further proof were needed for the continuing rise to fame of constructivism in International Relations, this would be it . As Johnston (2001:494) clarifies, socialization is aimed at creating membership in a society where the intersubjective understandings of the society become taken for granted. These studies generally began from the perspective of a single, established norm and posited mechanisms (arguing, bargaining, persuading, and learning) for how the community of norm acceptors could be enlarged (Acharya 2004). The Pacific Review, 28(1), 122. Sookermany, A. M. (2021). The ability to apprehend what is going on inside actors heads to understand motivations and interpretations is currently a matter for debate (Cederman and Daase 2003; Jackson 2004; Wendt 2004; Krebs and Jackson 2007) but, that debate notwithstanding, the notion that different actors within the same normative community i.e., a group structured by the same norm(s) could have different and contested understandings of that norm is at the foundation of the recent work on norm contestation. How shared culture and identity matters in international security can be illustrated with the example of nuclear weapons. Of course, norms can be subjected to revision or even reversed. e. In international relations, constructivism is a social theory that asserts that significant aspects of international relations are shaped by ideational factors. Staff & Defence College, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Defence University College / Norwegian Military Academy, Oslo, Norway. This pivot is an interesting development in norms research for two reasons. In both cases, compliance with an international norm behaving in a way that matches the behavioral strictures of the norm is expressly theorized and variation in compliance is explained not by pitting constructivist and rationalist/materialist variables, but by examining processes by which domestic actors interpret and manipulate international and local norms. 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. This logic structured seminal empirical work that endeavored to show how ideational and normative factors could explain puzzles in world politics (e.g., Klotz 1995; Finnemore 1996). 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. They are thus animated entities that strengthen, weaken, and evolve. What is the main argument of constructivism? This has led the constructivist literature away from Keohanes (1988) original vision of a division of labor constructivists provide insight into what the interests are, rational approaches take the analysis from there (Legro 1996). Constructivism (International Relations) For decades, the international relations theory field was comprised largely of two more dominant approaches: the theory of realism, and liberalism/pluralism. Nordic strategic culture. International Theory, 4(3), 449468. Put simply, social norms were treated as independent variables explanations for varied behaviors observed in world politics. Today's video is the third in our IR 101 series in which we discu. The Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink volume developed the spiral model that explained socialization of recalcitrant Southern states into universal human rights norms by referring to the linkages between and actions of transnational human rights activists, domestic human rights activists in the target state, and powerful Western state sponsors. Further, constructivists became more cautious about basing their analyses on the logic of appropriateness. Initial constructivist studies of social norms generally clustered into three areas. 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- The Washington Quarterly, 41(3), 89109. According to constructivism the priority is for social features instead of material. The goal of most norms-oriented studies in the initial wave of empirical constructivist work was to explain something about how world politics functions. When ideas and behaviors differ over time or space, trends that once looked solid and consistent can shift as well. Thucydides the constructivist. This approach challenged the rationalism and positivism of neorealism and neoliberalism. In The New Constructivism in International Relations Theory, David McCourt offers a refreshing take on Constructivism by reviewing old, present, and new concepts in Constructivism and connects them pragmatically with methodological examples.Moreover, this book functions as a handbook on 'how to constructivist' in an era defined and dominated by new advances in computational social science. Constructivisms overwhelming focus on the state and state agents obscures other actors and processes. 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). 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. I also explored the growing body of constructivist . 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