In other words, they worry that mutual constitution implies that actors have a difficult time stepping outside the bounds of their social/normative context to decide what is right to do. Rather it seeks to explore how the current reality evolved (Farrell 2002, p. 59). 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). Other scholars deemed the logic of appropriateness (as well as the logics of consequences and arguing) to be too agentic to fit well with constructivist tenets. The work of Cortell and Davis (2005) and Acharya (2004) are relevant examples of this type of compliance research. Correspondence to Introduction by Finley, John H. New York: Random House. While constructivists do not deny the importance of material factors, they also argue that ideas also matter, and in some cases, matter more. Realists have traditionally seen neutral states as weak and small, responding only to the external anarchic realm (Agius 2006). 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). Agius, C. (2022). 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. 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). The norms (both established and potential) meaning, constitutive properties, and behavioral strictures remain unchanged throughout the analysis (Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007). Norms and identity in world politics. Put simply, social norms were treated as independent variables explanations for varied behaviors observed in world politics. Finally, the third theory of international relations, known as Constructivism, focuses on ideas, shared beliefs and identity as the main drivers of success. Critics found this dual understanding of the logic of appropriateness wanting and thus developed additional behavioral logics that modeled differing motivations and modes of behavior more explicitly. 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. London: Routledge. Staff & Defence College, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Defence University College / Norwegian Military Academy, Oslo, Norway. Wendt, A. Thucydides. 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. Cham: Springer. An example here is in what is generally called the laws of armed conflict, such as the Geneva Conventions, which sets the rules for how victims of war are to be treated, and the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907), which addressed the conduct of war, such as the types of weapons permissible in warfare. How shared culture and identity matters in international security can be illustrated with the example of nuclear weapons. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. Constructivists provided empirical studies on a full range of topics important to the international relations discipline both in areas largely neglected by mainstream international relations like human rights (Klotz 1995; Risse, Ropp and Sikkink 1999), development (Finnemore 1996), and areas directly relevant to mainstream concerns like security (e.g., Legro 1996; contributors to Katzenstein 1996; Price 1997; Tannenwald 1999). (2016). International relations and military sciences. 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. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 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? First, norms are relatively stable if they were not, it would be hard to justify or observe this analytic category. What Is Social Constructivism? van Meegdenburg, H. (2019). This social learning aspect differs from realisms prescriptive approach that says nations will follow the strongest militaries to develop their strength and technological prowess with the anarchic structure of the international system guiding this logic. Not all states interpret power in the material or hierarchical sense. 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. To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. International Politics, 47(1), 125. The market for ontological security. Abstract. - 51.75.65.162. International Theory, 4(3), 449468. Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars . 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. 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).) What agents want and who they are may be constituted by social structures, but there is never a complete sublimation of agents they retain an ability to reason about constitutive social structures and make relatively independent behavioral choices. What was it all about after all? 1820; see also Katzenstein 1996). 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. Nordic strategic culture. European Review of International Studies, 3(3), 713. 6667). "It's refreshing to see the authors address the pedagogy of English language learners within a non-deficit model. They are thus animated entities that strengthen, weaken, and evolve. When actors follow the logic of arguing, they seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue. Essentialism believes that our identities are linked to a fixed, universal, innate 'essence'. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. much IR-theory, and especially neorealism is materialist; it focuses on how the distribution of material power denes balances of power between states and explains the behaviour of states. But we dont call it torture! 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. Birdsall, A. FBI says Saddams weapons bluff aimed at Iran. 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). Constructivism sees power in terms of what it does and means (Guzzini 2005); ideas have power (e.g., that democracies are good). Self-identity and the IR state. 124). In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. The translation requires interpretation a subjective understanding of the intersubjective context to decide on a behavior. Tun, H. (2005). How are self-understandings and identity constituted in the international realm? On the learning literature more generally, see Levy , Jack , "Learning and Foreign Policy: Sweeping a Conceptual Minefield (Review Article)," International Organization 48 (Spring 1994 . - Checkel (1998) argues that "without more sustained attention . Risse (2000) extended March and Olsens (1998) discussion of the relationship between the logics of consequences and appropriateness to a tripartite linking of three logics. 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. The compliance literature is most often concerned with the actions of actors (Japan in the Cortell and Davis piece or the Southeast Asian nations in Acharyas work) who have yet to accept or internalize international norms (financial liberalization and cooperative security/humanitarian intervention). 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. Journal of European Public Policy, 6(4), 669681. A key illustration here is the norm of human rights, which is widely accepted by actors (Katzenstein 1996). London: Penguin. Although some debate exists over whether it is more of an approach rather than a theory (McCourt 2016, p. 476), its importance for international relations can be found in its emphasis on social relations between actors; how actors relate to each other shapes international politics. Erskine, T. (2012). Norms are also expectations about behavior (these are called regulatory norms because they define acceptable behavior). Part of Springer Nature. Haas, P. M. (2016). (1) Normative behavior how an extant norm influences behavior within a community. What if behavior was due to factors other than norms or ideas? On the contrary, this analytic device has a deep history in the sociological and economic literatures. Their embrace of the constructivist paradigm and its application as a natural teaching and learning response to the specific needs of ELLs is a unique and remarkable contribution to the theoretical and research-based literature on this topic." 55K views 2 years ago International Relations Constructivism is one of critical theories in IR criticizing the classical theories. 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. To conclude social constructivism believe that reality does not exist outside our consciousness, it only exists as 'intersubjective awareness' among people. International Politics, 53(2), 176197. 1 2. introduction "the focus of social constructivism is on human awareness or consciousness and its place in world affairs. Yet Saddam did not want to appear weak to enemies such as Iran (Allen 2009). For example, norms can challenge practices and beliefs that are seen to be no longer fit for purpose. 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). 6061). (Eds.). A further example of norm erosion can be seen in the norm against the use of torture. 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. The essay proceeds by first describing the initial establishment of constructivist norms research and critiques that flowed from the original choices made. In the timeless wisdom of realist thought, the story of international relations is that the world is structured by anarchy. 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. Steele, B., Gould, H., & Kessler, O. There is an implicit equivalence made between contestation that goes on within a normative community (generated by the gap between general rules and specific situations) and contestation that occurs between different normative communities (inevitable tension between norms). Rebuttals to constructivist arguments used evidence of behavior that was inconsistent with the specific and unchanging strictures of norms in question to claim that nonconstructivist (usually material or rational) factors must be the driving catalyst of political behavior and outcomes (Shannon 2000). Social Constructivism sees the whole discipline of International Relations as a social construction. Cham: Springer. ), Epistemic communities, constructivism, and international environmental politics (pp. An example of this can be seen in the case of Libya in 2011, which is broadly hailed as a successful R2P intervention. 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. Relevant examples of this type of compliance research to factors other than norms or ideas (. To a fixed, universal, innate & # x27 ; essence #! 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