Norms were conceptualized as having specific behavioral strictures (a relatively bounded set of appropriate behaviors) that did not change. Kessler, O., & Steele, B. Constructivists also emphasize how domestic norms and values play a role in how states and their militaries approach conflict or understand the causes of conflict. forthcoming). Constructivism considers these interactions as a sociological process in which its agents and structures are centered in a reciprocal constitution; a part of society can not be understood without the other ones. For liberals, the belief that liberal ideas such as democracy and the free market are ideas to be shared to make the world a better place suggests a transfer of ideas rather than an exchange of ideas. A notable example that Searle uses to explain this is money. The work of Cortell and Davis (2005) and Acharya (2004) are relevant examples of this type of compliance research. Constructivism is relevant to military studies in numerous ways. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. 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. Social Constructivist International Relations and the Military. The first wave of empirical constructivist studies tended to freeze norms. Ontological security in world politics: State identity and the security dilemma. Krahmann, E. (2018). New York: Routledge. 3. 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. Under a constructivist lens, the primacy of state survival in realist thought also undergoes reconsideration. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. The traditional theories (Idealism and Realism) had diverted all focus to state and Power. To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. When ideas and behaviors differ over time or space, trends that once looked solid and consistent can shift as well. A paradox of social norms is their dual quality. Wendt, A. Quintessentially, Finnemore and Sikkink (1998:914) noted the highly contingent and contested nature of normative change and normative influence in their examination of the norm life cycle. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. (2002). If it was not, then the international order and what security means could be something completely different. Today's video is the third in our IR 101 series in which we discu. The simplification of social norm dynamics at the foundation of the initial wave of constructivist norms writing contributed to the meteoric rise of social constructivism within the international relations literature. General norms must be operationalized or translated into specific actions for specific situations. Epistemic communities are described by Peter Haas as networks of knowledge-based communities with an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge within their domain of expertise. They share intersubjective knowledge and beliefs and a common policy enterprise, tackling specific problems in relation to their professions (2016, p. 5) to push for norm change around nuclear proliferation and to reduce the arsenal of the superpowers. Critical constructivists pay greater attention to issues of power and dominant discourses that construct national identity.. Constructivism, normative IR theory and the limits and possibilities of studying ethics in world politics. In this sense, power is a social category. Manchester: Manchester University Press. However, when defined as ideas or expectations about appropriate behavior for actors with a given identity (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998:891), it became an ideal conceptual tool for operationalizing processes of social construction. Third, rather than see international relations as an anarchic realm where the lack of a central authority above states guarantees security, constructivism makes the claim that agents and structures are mutually constituted or shaped by each other. Wendt tends to view state identity in a singular way which can omit its complexity. CrossRef McCourt, D. (2016). Cham: Springer. 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. The International Affairs Forum (2020), states that constructivists use both material and non-material explanations of social constructs. Actors (usually powerful ones, like leaders and influential citizens) continually shape - and sometimes reshape - the very nature of international relations through their actions and interactions. On the contrary, early, empirically oriented constructivists worked to demonstrate that shared ideas about appropriate state behavior had a profound impact on the nature and functioning of world politics. Nonetheless, constructivist approaches to identity, norms, and ideas about the world and its social relations can impact understandings of what it means to be secure. Introduction: Ideational AlliesPsychology, Constructivism, and International Relations . 12). The rise of social constructivist thought in international relations theory as part of the fourth debate (see International Relations and Military Sciences by Roennfeldt in this volume) represented one of those break through moments that challenged some of the orthodoxy and key assumptions that guided the discipline. While this is obviously a false dichotomy and constructivist studies do not treat norms as exclusively internal or external to actors, the distinction matters for how scholars approach compliance and contestation. International Politics, 47(1), 125. As Tannenwald says, [e]ven as states pursue their interests, they do so within a normative structure (2017, p. 17). This dynamism, it should also be noted, may not always be positive ideas about security can also regress or become less normative or progressive. When the Bush administration introduced the category of unlawful enemy combatant in the global war on terror, these individuals were not afforded the protections under the Geneva Conventions (Tannenwald 2017, pp. Discourse has power because language can shape how we view phenomena simple acts such as defining a conflict as one of terrorism, for example, then calls into effect a range of policy options associated with countering terrorism. It stresses the social dimensions of International relations. (2005). In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. 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. Recent efforts to ensure gender equality in militaries represent a normative shift, affecting operations and culture. Social constructivism is not among the most popular theoretical approaches used in forecasting in International Relations. In international relations, constructivism is a social theory that asserts that significant aspects of international relations are shaped by ideational factors (which are historically and socially constructed), not simply material factors. Sookermany, A. M. (2021). Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), 2543. The main two paradigms is the Realists and the Liberalist school of thoughts. 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. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Subsequently, states do what they can to secure themselves, which often means resorting to military force. Norms and regulations. Instead, practices are the result of inarticulate, practical knowledge that makes what is done appear self-evident or commensenical.. 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. (1996). 317356). Initial constructivist studies of social norms generally clustered into three areas. Rasmussen, M. V. (2005). The Sandholtz (2008:121) passage quoted above brings together the two types of normative dynamics discussed in this section. 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). Whose progress, which morals? The shared understandings given to objects are referred to as inter-subjective meanings, which Adler explains as collective knowledge (1997). In R. Abrahamsen & A. Leander (Eds. 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).) Abstract Social constructivism is not among the most popular theoretical approaches used in forecasting in International Relations. Considering other factors to explain why states behave the way they do. The Pacific Review, 28(1), 122. What does it derive its name from (it's fundamental proposition)? Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15(1), 923. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Security communities. These initial works laid the theoretical foundation for an approach to world politics that included the assumption that important aspects of politics are socially constructed, a commitment to mutual constitution as an answer to the agent-structure problem, a dedication to the importance of intersubjective reality in contrast to objective/subjective realities, and a focus on ideational and identity factors in analyses of world politics. Norm contestation during the US War on Terror. The analytic focus is shifting to the targets of socialization and the dynamic and agentic process whereby actors interact with their normative context. It then turns to a discussion of two directions currently being explored in social norms research and the open questions that remain. Norms and identity in world politics (pp. Yet, constructivists are beginning to define their enterprise more independently of competing approaches. 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. Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. Steele, B., Gould, H., & Kessler, O. 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). 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. The literature that has followed this keystone research (e.g., Acharya 2004; Cortell and Davis 2005; Farrell 2005; Mastenbroek and Kaeding 2006; Kornprobst 2007; Capie 2008) moves beyond the boundaries of earlier socialization research, especially the tendency to focus on displacement of local/domestic ideas with international norms through transnational teaching (Finnemore 1996; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999) or to attribute norm diffusion to fit between global and local norms (Cortell and Davis 1996; Florini 1996). Acharya (2004) goes further in that he allows for the substance of international norms to be molded to fit local contexts localization. Zehfuss, M. (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. Constructivism has developed over the years and it is now possible to speak of it in terms of generations. The first generation is identified in the 1980s, where constructivism focused on agents and structures. FBI says Saddams weapons bluff aimed at Iran. (One of the foundational texts that covers chapters on security and strategic culture, albeit from a mainly conventional perspective). 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. 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Like its revision of anarchy as an ordering principle in international relations, constructivism also changed perceptions about the relationship between agents and structures, brought attention to how ideas matter as much as material factors, and how identity, norms, and culture shape global relations. Finally, the third theory of international relations, known as Constructivism, focuses on ideas, shared beliefs and identity as the main drivers of success. While constructivists do not deny the importance of material factors, they also argue that ideas also matter, and in some cases, matter more. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. There. (It should be noted here that social constructivism is often seen as part of a broader set of theoretical approaches that are concerned with identity and discourses, such as ontological security and securitization. Tannenwald, N. (1999). Not all states interpret power in the material or hierarchical sense. This review examines the constructivist norms-oriented literature from early efforts geared at gaining acceptance in a field dominated by the neorealist/neoliberal debates, through the recent emergence of agendas focused on norm compliance and contestation. Some scholars have sought a way through or out of the logic of appropriateness/logic of consequences debate by following March and Olsens (1998) suggestions about scrutinizing the relationship between the logics, especially possible temporal sequencing of the logics, theorizing that sometimes actors calculate optimal material courses and at others they reason about their normative/identity obligations (Shannon 2000; Nielson, Tierney, and Weaver 2006; see Muller 2004 for a caution on this synthesis strategy). In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Farrell, T. (2002). Bjrkdahl, A. 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). Studies of contestation and norm change have begun to examine diverse issues like organizational change in international financial institutions (Nielson, Tierney, and Weaver 2006; Chwieroth 2008); European integration (Meyer 2005; Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Dimitrakopoulos 2008); environment (Bailey 2008); election monitoring (Kelley 2008); and security (Kornprobst 2007). Does R2P matter? International Theory, 4(3), 449468. 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. (1998). The dominant belief about identities in our societies is essentialism. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. In the timeless wisdom of realist thought, the story of international relations is that the world is structured by anarchy. 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. Having made the case that norms matter and having developed a number of theoretical frameworks to show how norms emerge, spread, and influence behavior, normsoriented constructivists have begun to turn their attention to a new set of questions. Social Constructivism posits the argumentation that academic discourse as opposed to political engagement is more fruitful in bringing about lasting and genuine change in global affairs. 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. At the other end of the spectrum are constructivists who argue that agents reason through social structures. Berger, T. U. 115135). This recent research speaks to and is driven by broader questions of conceptualizing the relationship between actors and norms whether actors reason through or about social norms. (2009). Second, at a broader level, the current norms literature is wrestling with the relationship between intersubjective and subjective reality. Perhaps more fundamentally from a feminist perspective, Locher and Prugl contend that the objectivist stance of many constructivist scholars is inconsistent with their social ontology. 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. 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. 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. Even among security communities such as the Nordic states, different strategic cultures can be found because they are informed by a range of historical and cultural experiences, with different experiences of war and conflict, membership of alliances, and other factors (see special issues of Cooperation and Conflict (2005) and Global Affairs (2018) for further discussions). In correlation to this, it would be fruitful to acknowledge the role of constructivism in international relations theory, as one could argue it is closely related to this analysis, where one may draw parallels between Norway and Sweden in the comprehension of the research. 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.. Cooperation and Conflict, 40, 1. 3536). 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). Is Dewey a social constructivist? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saddam-idUSTRE56113O20090702. If the meaning of a norm can change or if different communities of actors adhere to different norms (or different versions of a norm), then norm-breaking takes on a different meaning. Poststructuralism in international relations: An exploration of discourse and the military. (1992). During the First World War, Belgium, driven by a sense of honor, chose to fight Germany even though the Belgians risked and experienced catastrophic consequences (Steele 2008b). The international system is defined by anarchy. 219227). This standpoint of Constructivism is contrary to the 'atomized' 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). The scope of military conduct can also be institutionalized, and constructivism provides a way to understand such processes. (2019), and Kessler and Steele (2016) for recent advanced debates.) 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. Contrastingly, neorealist prescriptions of power see it as hard, material, military power (such as large military forces or superior weapons) and are concerned with its distribution in the international system. Th e article argues that constructivism suff ers from the same . Lebow, R. (2001). This is particularly relevant to military studies in terms of understanding the strategic culture of specific states: culture can have an important influence on how states see security, how they interpret threat and train and organize their military forces. Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. The goal was to show how a target behavior can be accounted by considering the ideational context, how ideas and norms constitute interests, or how social norms influence actors understandings of the material world. Neumann, I. European Journal of International Relations, 5(4), 435450. (). Correspondence to Social Constructivism, especially after the 1980s, has become a common approach in dealing with and examining different issues in the field of humanities and social sciences. 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. 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). Identities are also constructed. It is ideas, according to constructivists, that play a large role in determining how actors act. Gheciu, A. It is especially relevant and pertinent as a tool of criticism of widely held empirical and normative theories. The nuclear taboo: The United States and the normative basis of nuclear non-use. Haas, P. M. (2016). Prominent in this part of the literature was Finnemore and Sikkinks (1998) development of the norm life cycle whereby normative entrepreneurs (see also Nadelmann 1990) work to persuade states of the appropriateness of a new norm and serve as a catalyst for a cascade of new normative understandings. Social constructivism emerged out of key debates in international relations theory in the 1980s concerned with agents and structures and has come to be seen as the fourth debate in international relations theorizing, which pitches constructivist against rationalist perspectives (Fierke and Jrgensen 2001, p. 3). This was a vastly different kind of theorizing than was current in the mainstream of international relations that was locked in the neorealist/neoliberal debate (e.g., Krasner 1983; Keohane 1984, 1986; Baldwin 1990; Grieco 1990). The dominant focus of traditional theories on state and distribution of . 1516). 1999; Jacobsen 2003). Social theory of international politics. Although the theory lies more on non-material factors that govern states, it explains that politics also plays a role in international relations. [3] This reimagining is not new. While constructivism has made significant inroads into IR theorizing, it does not mean that it is unproblematic or immune from criticism. 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