CONSTRUCTIVIST

DEFINITION
THEORY
DEVELOPMENT
INTERNATIONAL RELATION
SOCIAL THEORY
CONTENT
DEFINITION
CONSTRUCTIVISM
is the claim that significant aspects of
international relations are historically and
socially contingent, rather than inevitable
consequences of human nature or other
essential characteristics of world politics.


THEORY
focus on human awareness or
consciousness and its place in world
affairs.
it focuses on how the
distribution of material power
defines balances of power
between states and explains
the behavior of states
the most important aspect of
international relations is social, not
material.
DEVELOPMENT
Nicholas Onuf
Alexander Wendt
1980s and early 1990s,
constructivism has become one of the
major schools of thought within
international relations.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT
A significant group of scholars who study
processes of social construction self-
consciously eschew the label "Constructivist.

They argue that "mainstream"
constructivism has abandoned many of the
most important insights from linguistic
turn and social-constructionist theory in the
pursuit of respectability as a "scientific"
approach to international relations.
INTERNATIONAL RELATION
constructivism as a social theory
operates at a high level of abstraction: it
tells something about international
relations, but it is not concerned with IR
specifically.
One of the most well
known IR
constructivists is
Alexander Wendt
Wendt challenged the neorealist
position by asserting , anarchy is what
states make of it.
What do you think he
means?
Anarchy is a social construction. It is not
inherently dangerous, unstable, or scary;
instead, it becomes so only when states
interpret it as such, however, it is not just
interpretation that matters, but also
interaction with others that create and
instantiate one structure of identities and
interests rather than another; structure has no
existence or causal power apart from
process
SOCIAL THEORY
What does it mean to say that
constructivism is a social theory?
Social theory is more general theory
about the social world (at large), about
social action and about the relationship
between structures and actors

Constructivism as social theory rests on an
ideational view

The core ideational element upon which
constructivists focus is intersubjective beliefs (and
ideas, conceptions and assumptions) that are widely
shared among people. Ideas must be widely shared to
matter; nonetheless they can be held by different
groups, such as organizations, policymakers, social
groups or society).