An example of this can be seen in the rationalist understanding of behavior in warfare. 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). To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. - 51.75.65.162. 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. An example of this can be seen in the case of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was created in 2002 to hear cases of war crimes. In M. Evangelista & N. Tannenwald (Eds. The strange career of Constructivism in International Relations" en Puchala, Do . What if anarchy was not a given condition that ordered world politics? Constructivism sees power in terms of what it does and means (Guzzini 2005); ideas have power (e.g., that democracies are good). In the timeless wisdom of realist thought, the story of international relations is that the world is structured by anarchy. The identity of agents such as states matter because identity helps determine national interests. Where liberals would declare that the west won, proving capitalism and democracy were the only workable ways to organize societies, in a constructivist reading, the end of the Cold War was largely down to the changes that were taking place in the former Soviet Union under Gorbachev (Risse-Kappen 1994). Norms that challenged ideas like genocide, apartheid, the use of nuclear weapons, how to treat prisoners of war, how combatants are defined, and the role of women in armed forces emerge in opposition to existing norms. The nuclear taboo: The United States and the normative basis of nuclear non-use. In P. J. Katzenstein (Ed. It has major implications for an understanding of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and how to achieve it. International Relations from a Social Perspective. Agius, C. (2006). In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. Social Constructivist International Relations and the Military. International norms dynamics and political change. This suggests that there is something beyond the timeless wisdom of realism that offers only a tragic view of world politics that will never change. In P. J. Katzenstein (Ed. 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- - Checkel (1998) argues that "without more sustained attention . Hi!Welcome back to the King's College London International Relations Today Youtube channel. 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. Cooperation and Conflict, 49(4), 519535. Ideational or even soft power the influence that is exerted that does not rely on hard power but rather attracts others to ideas and values (see Realist International Relations Theory and The Military by Schmidt in this volume) can be effective in global politics and choosing to go to war over ideas rather than material gains or even to not take advantage of material gain and an increase in power, serve as examples. Constructivism accounts for this issue by arguing that the social world is of our making (Onuf 1989). 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. 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). By Fizza Hameed Khan, Mahnoor Iqbal, Malaika Shahbaz, Sidra Noor, Raniya Ishtiaq. 5. The Pacific Review, 28(1), 122. 3. 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. 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). (1996). According to this approach, the behaviour of humans is determined by their identity, which itself is shaped by society's values, history, practices, and institutions. The international system is defined by anarchy. Despite their position of material weakness, the Melians argued that freedom and justice are more important. Wiener (2004:203) argues that the interpretation of the meaning of norms, in particular, the meaning of generic sociocultural norms, cannot be assumed as stable and uncontested. 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385. Weber, C. (1999). About us. Along with recent work on strategic social construction the idea that norms can be deployed in the service of interests (regardless of whether those interests are pre-given or socially constructed themselves) or at least shape strategic behavior (e.g., Barnett and Coleman 2004; Muller 2004; Nielson, Tierney, and Weaver 2006; Seabrooke 2006) the recent writing on compliance has made progress on questions left open by the initial wave of empirical norms research. They are both based on philosophical views. Koschut, S. (2014). Cham: Springer. They consider that actors can stand outside a normative structure to consider options. Critical constructivists would seek to include different identities in how they understand the nation and present a more complex picture of what identity means and how it is contested and can be deconstructed (Fierke 2001). Beyond fueling critiques of constructivism, treating norms as static entities made it difficult for constructivists to explain normative change (ironic for an approach that rose to prominence with its critique of other theories inability to explain change). Norms and identity in world politics. After all, these were Cold War institutions whose purpose was now over with the end of superpower politics. 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. On the contrary, this analytic device has a deep history in the sociological and economic literatures. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. Post modernism is relatively new in international relations. 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. The analytic focus is shifting to the targets of socialization and the dynamic and agentic process whereby actors interact with their normative context. From this mainly structural perspective, social norms were conceptualized as an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of world politics. Douglas, B. How are self-understandings and identity constituted in the international realm? Critiques of constructivism tend to come from three areas: rationalist criticisms, issues over how constructivists see identity, and finally, criticism that constructivism is apolitical. This dynamism, it should also be noted, may not always be positive ideas about security can also regress or become less normative or progressive. Rasmussen, M. V. (2005). ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. London: Routledge. But norms are never static and this meaning has also changed over time for instance, with the rise of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), sovereignty as an institution has become contingent on states fulfilling certain criteria such as not committing human rights abuse. Undoing the freezing of norms has been based on a reimagining of social norms as generic social facts that are inherently dynamic. Subsequently, states do what they can to secure themselves, which often means resorting to military force. Considering other factors to explain why states behave the way they do. Ontological security in world politics: State identity and the security dilemma. Perhaps this is simply a matter of what questions are being asked. As states interact with other actors in the international system, their ideas and identity can change over time, which can produce a more dynamic understanding of international relations. forthcoming). However, the success of this initial wave of constructivist norms studies was built on an analytic move that would engender significant debate in the 2000s. 1820; see also Katzenstein 1996). Intersubjective facts like social norms only exist within a community of actors that accept them. Introduction to special section: from Nordic exceptionalism to a third order priority variations of Nordicness in foreign and security policy. Mitzen, J. These works argue that norms do not provide fully specified rules for every situation, and especially not for novel situations. Indeed, norms, identity, and ideas are key factors in constructivist theory. Wendt tends to view state identity in a singular way which can omit its complexity. Constructivism, normative IR theory and the limits and possibilities of studying ethics in world politics. (2008b). Assuming that actors reason through social norms means beginning analysis with the understanding that the very way that actors view and understand the world is shaped by social norms. 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). As shared objects, they appear as external to any particular actor actors experience norms, at least in part, as external rules. Norms and identity in world politics. Further, constructivists became more cautious about basing their analyses on the logic of appropriateness. One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. The Athenians demand that neutral Melos side with them against Sparta. Fierke, K. M., & Jrgensen, K. E. An example of this can be seen in the case of Libya in 2011, which is broadly hailed as a successful R2P intervention. 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. Abstract. 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. Security communities. Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. While arguments remain about constructivisms ontological commitments and efforts to build a bridge between rationalist and reflectivist approaches, its relevance for military studies can be widely seen in terms of how it can broaden thinking about how to see and respond to other actors in terms of security and cooperation. This standpoint of Constructivism is contrary to the 'atomized' European Review of International Studies, 3(3), 713. 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. Initial constructivist studies of social norms can be divided into three areas: normative, socialization, and normative emergence. (1996). Yet Saddam did not want to appear weak to enemies such as Iran (Allen 2009). London: Routledge. Tactical constructivism, method, and international relations. In the 1980s and 1990s, efforts to wind back the proliferation of nuclear weapons which by this stage had reached staggering proportions, particularly in the USA and USSR prompted scientists and nuclear experts, civil society organizations, and other actors, to form what is called epistemic communities. These criticisms are predominantly about where constructivism claims to fit in IR (as the middle ground between rationalist and reflectivist approaches) and its methodological commitments. Third, critical scholars argue that constructivism is deeply flawed because it is apolitical, does not adequately analyze categories such as norms, or simply resurrects rationalist ideas. CrossRef 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. Writing in the 1950s, Karl Deutsch differentiated between amalgamated and pluralistic security communities, with the former referring to a security community with a shared government, and the latter involving an integrated yet separated political structure. Constructivist explanations of different phenomena related to the military can highlight how norms and identity come into play. Second, analytic tractability is necessary and is no trivial accomplishment. 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. Risse-Kappen, T. (1994). These dual visions of normative dynamics are likely related, but the norms literature has yet to describe how. Norm shift around the idea of sovereignty can be seen in the pillars of R2P that say that if a state cannot or will not stop human rights abuses within its own territory, other states have a compelling reason to intervene. The strategic cultures of states are not the same: they are guided by perceptions, beliefs, ideas and norms that determine how states view the international system and how they use military force and priorities (Neumann and Heikka 2005, p. 6). 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). 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). Steele, B. Social constructivism primarily seeks to demonstrate how the core aspects of the international relations are contrary to the assumptions of Neorealism and Neoliberalism within the frame of social construction, taking up forms of ongoing processes of social practice and interaction. Wendts contention was that rather than see anarchy as a given condition of the international system, ordering relations and compelling states to behave in certain ways to secure themselves, anarchy, rather, depends on whether states buy into this view. (2) Socialization how an extant norm or a nascent norm from one community diffuses and is internalized by actors outside that community. The construction of social reality. 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. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15(1), 923. The influence of Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (17241805) on constructivist thought can be seen regarding ideas about knowledge and objectivity, in that knowledge of the world is filtered through frameworks of understanding. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. Correspondence to (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. In addition, the use of norms to study international relations directly challenged the orthodox assumption that the international realm was one largely devoid of sociality, merely a system of power calculations and material forces (a challenge also issued by the English school; see Bull 1977). Mearsheimer, J. J., & Walt, S. M. (2003). 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). 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. This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. Security institutions as agents of socialization? 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. (1999). His (2000:2) logic of arguing is designed to clarify how actors develop a common knowledge and how norms and ideas can have a constitutive effect while retaining the reflection and choice Sending (2002:458) deems necessary for mutual constitution and change. Other articles where constructivism is discussed: international relations: Constructivism: In the late 20th century the study of international relations was increasingly influenced by constructivism. In R. Abrahamsen & A. Leander (Eds. Kurki, M., & Sinclair, A. Just as liberalism was a response to realism, economic structuralism is a response to liberalism. (1999). 394395). Poststructuralism in international relations: An exploration of discourse and the military. Constructivism was and remains a very different approach to world politics than its erstwhile competitors. 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. First, the compliance and norm change research agenda (loosely defined) is more internally focused than the previous wave of norms-oriented research. Bjrkdahl, A. Constructing international relations: The next generation. 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. Abstract Social constructivism is not among the most popular theoretical approaches used in forecasting in International Relations. 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. A similar concern motivated Risse (2000) to draw on Habermass work with communicative action and propose a new behavioral logic that would inject agency and more purposive reflection into the process of social construction. More info. forthcoming). To be specific, I navigated core tenets of constructivism in terms of its ontology, epistemology, and methodology, respectively. A Social Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Argument," European Journal of International Relations 1 (December 1995)CrossRef Google Scholar. The way in which issues are constructed and interpreted as threatening can also depend heavily on identity and views of the external realm. Weinhabits world of our making" (Onuf,1989),and setion i . Sandholtz (2008) himself proposes a cyclical model to explain the evolution of norms prohibiting wartime plunder. 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. Onuf, N. (2013). If any further proof were needed for the continuing rise to fame of constructivism in International Relations, this would be it . International Politics, 53(2), 176197. Its 1999 Strategic Concept altered the organization from a Cold War alliance to something more akin to Deutschs idea of a security community that was based on common values, norms, and identity, making democracy and human rights central. 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). Adler, E. (1997). van Meegdenburg, H. (2019). Norm contestation during the US War on Terror. 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). Tannenwald, N. (1999). / (social) constructivism [1] [ ] [2] Alexander Wendt's Social Theory of International Politics has been predicted to gain a status similar to that which Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics is thought to have enjoyed in the 1980s. 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). Finally, the third theory of international relations, known as Constructivism, focuses on ideas, shared beliefs and identity as the main drivers of success. While constructivism has made significant inroads into IR theorizing, it does not mean that it is unproblematic or immune from criticism. 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). The concept of power: A constructivist analysis. Treating social norms as fully formed, static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism. (Eds.). Part of Springer Nature. Meanings: socially constructed. (2010). Thucydides. Sandholtz (2008:121) deems this to be a built-in dynamic of change whereby the ever present gap between general rules and specific situations, as well as the inevitable tension between norms, creates openings for disputes.. Yet, constructivists are beginning to define their enterprise more independently of competing approaches. 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). Captured by Alexander Wendts now-famous maxim anarchy is what states make of it, social constructivism is the idea that the world out there is not given, as realists would argue, but rather, socially constructed. In doing so, social constructivism places a focus on the importance of mutual constitution: international politics is shaped by both structures, such as anarchy, or agents, such as states and other actors. Its value also depends on the market, so it can go up and down, or buy more or fewer things, dependent on inflation, and other variables. 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. 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. 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). 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. They serve as concrete foundations for the different conceptions of norm dynamics that are emerging in the current literature because they provide conceptions of how actors and norms are linked. They were aware of and noted the simplifications being made caveating their work with notations about the fluid and inherently contested nature of norms. (1999). New York: Columbia University Press. Roennfeldt, C. F. (2022). Zehfuss, M. (2002). 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. Constructivism has provided a broader approach to understanding international relations and security beyond rationalist frameworks. Power in the constructivist sense is less concerned with material power but sees ideas and discourses as powerful; power can be exercised in different ways. 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. Altmetric. 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. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, You can also search for this author in Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Special issue. It is especially relevant and pertinent as a tool of criticism of widely held empirical and normative theories. When actors follow the logic of arguing, they seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue. There is significant overlap with the socialization literature here as the mechanisms by which an idea becomes a norm are not all that different from the mechanisms by which an actor outside a normative community is brought within. They do not simply replace bad norms but become established through what Finnemore and Sikkink (1998) call a norm cycle where new ideas and shared understandings emerge, become instituted and normalized. Nordic strategic culture. The article argues that constructivism suffers from the same limitations as any other paradigm in IR, therefore, there is no reason to exclude this theory from forecasting effort. For neorealists, the relative material capabilities of states determine hierarchy and power in international relations. (Ed.). Social constructivism is well suited to address continuous changes in European integration. Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). The initial wave of empirical norms work provided a solid foundation for the newly emergent constructivist approach, but it tended to bracket the vibrant existence of norms themselves. In other words, actors can never significantly remove themselves from their social structure to make independent judgments. We dont do that: A constructivist perspective on the use and non-use of private military contractors by Denmark. Those who study compliance realize that actors are constituted by norms and cannot fully separate themselves from their normative context. 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). An example of this can be seen in the rationalist understanding of behavior in warfare in relations... Cooperation and Conflict, 49 ( 4 ), 519535 be specific, I core. Normative, socialization, and how to achieve it a given condition that ordered world politics whereby actors with. Seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue internally focused than the previous of... 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John Ketchum Nextera Salary, Articles S