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. 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). This study focuses on the definition of the social constructivism approach within the scope of International Relations (IR) theories and the discussions on this approach. The development of and debate over logics of behavior is the foundation of the reasoning about normsreasoning through norms spectrum. I would like to thank Alice Ba, Robert Denemark, Phil Triadafilopoulos, and the anonymous reviewer for their helpful discussions and suggestions on this essay. While constructivists do not deny the importance of material factors, they also argue that ideas also matter, and in some cases, matter more. These dual visions of normative dynamics are likely related, but the norms literature has yet to describe how. Hopf, T. (1998). But NATO transformed itself into something more than a military alliance. (1998). Cooperation and Conflict, 40(1), 523. International norms dynamics and political change. Instead of calculating what is best for improving its utility, an actor motivated by the logic of appropriateness will instead reason what actors like me should do. NATO and the New Europe. When interacting with external norms, the targets of socialization reason about and in some cases manipulate the social norms (international or domestic) that shape their behavior. 3536). . https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385. Cortell and Davis (2005) still invoke fit or congruence between the local context and global norms in explaining compliance with an international norm, but their twists on this theme are: (1) to examine socialization of a powerful actor Japan; and (2) to conceive of fit not as a given, but rather the result of conscious domestic political activity. Cham: Springer. Handbook of Military Sciences pp 116Cite as, 2 In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. The way in which issues are constructed and interpreted as threatening can also depend heavily on identity and views of the external realm. 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. The study and practice of international relations has led international relations scholars to suggest different . 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. Mearsheimer, J. J., & Walt, S. M. (2003). Nordic strategic culture. After making the case that norms matter and developing a number of theoretical frameworks to show how norms emerge, spread, and influence behavior, norms-oriented constructivists have shifted their attention to a new set of questions, and in particular compliance with the strictures of social norms and change in norms themselves. When ideas and behaviors differ over time or space, trends that once looked solid and consistent can shift as well. This analytic move facilitated conversation and competition with rational/material theoretical competitors. They posited the LoA as a corrective. (1999). 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. Cooperation and Conflict, 51(2), 184199. e. In international relations, constructivism is a social theory that asserts that significant aspects of international relations are shaped by ideational factors. 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. Moreover, social constructivism emphasizes social relations in global politics, and sees security and international politics as determined by ideas as well as material factors. Introduction: Ideational AlliesPsychology, Constructivism, and International Relations . For March and Olsen, the logic of consequences where agents undertake actions on the basis of rationally calculating the optimal (usually materially) course of action remained an insufficient foundation for theorizing behavior in international relations. 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. For constructivists, a focus on identity makes it possible to consider more deeply how domestic factors, ideas, discourses, cultures, and norms shape the interests of states and the choices states make. Initial constructivist norm studies thus tended to focus on how behavior in a community coalesces around a norm or is reconstituted when a norm emerges. 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. Keywords Constructivists International norms International relations Rationalism Strategic behaviour (2008b). Scholars such as Adler (2008), Pouliot (2008), and Hopf (2002) found this reflective aspect of the logic of appropriateness to allow for too much independence between agents and structures. Norms and identity in world politics. Adler, E. (1997). What if behavior was due to factors other than norms or ideas? As Farrell tells us, liberals and realists do not agree on what prevents war is it democracy (as liberals would contend?) International Relations: Constructivism pt1 1. Steele, B. 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). 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. 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. This is natural given that this work is still in the area of socialization. Whose progress, which morals? Grand strategy, strategic culture, practice: The social roots of Nordic defence. One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. If it was not, then the international order and what security means could be something completely different. (2016). Global Affairs, 4, (45), 355362. By Fizza Hameed Khan, Mahnoor Iqbal, Malaika Shahbaz, Sidra Noor, Raniya Ishtiaq. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. For realists, the material structure of the world matters. 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. As Onuf states: Constructivism holds that people make society, and society makes people. Constructivism had been marginalized by these mainstream theories because it focused on social construction instead of material construction (Barkin, 2017). 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. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). International Security, 23(1), 171200. Sending goes so far as to claim that the logic of appropriateness is incompatible with constructivist thought because it violates the tenets of mutual constitution and does not allow for change he contends (2002:458) that in the logic of appropriateness, social structure has objective authority over actors, not allowing for the kind of reflection necessary for mutual constitution and change. Social theory of international politics. An unnecessary war. 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). Finally, the third theory of international relations, known as Constructivism, focuses on ideas, shared beliefs and identity as the main drivers of success. This is akin to what Krebs and Jackson (2007:434) describe as implication contests where actors agree on the nature of an issue, but not the policy implications and framing contests where there is fundamental disagreement about the situation at hand. Constructivism in international relations: The politics of reality. 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. Social norms were conceived as aspects of social structure that emerged from the actions and beliefs of actors in specific communities and in turn norms shaped those actions and beliefs by constituting actors identities and interests. Despite their position of material weakness, the Melians argued that freedom and justice are more important. 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). Foreign Policy, 134, 5059. Constructivism's approach to the subjects of threat, conflict and security in global politics originated from their fundamental emphasis on the social dimensions of international politics, thus it defined them as socially constructed elements in the process of identity formation under the influence of the norms and shared values of society. The belief that reality is socially constructed leads constructivists to place a greater role on norm development, identity, and ideational power than the other major theoretical paradigms. The goal of most norms-oriented studies in the initial wave of empirical constructivist work was to explain something about how world politics functions. In essence, they theorized norm diffusion as taking place from a community of Western states constituted by compliance with universal human rights norms to individual Southern states. To be clear, constructivists have been quite good at demonstrating the replacement of one norm with another. 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. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Onuf, N. (2013). This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. 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. Table of Contents Table of Contents. Behavioral logics are concrete expressions of how mutual constitution works and what motivates actors to behave they way that they do. On the contrary, the two parts of the norms literature described above tend to find themselves on different ends of the reasoning about normsreasoning through norms spectrum. More info. 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. They consider that actors can stand outside a normative structure to consider options. Clearly this is a continuum because if agents were truly independent from or entirely dependent upon social structures, we would not be talking about constructivism. In this sense, power is a social category. 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. The concept of power: A constructivist analysis. Acharya (2004) goes further in that he allows for the substance of international norms to be molded to fit local contexts localization. Weber, C. (1999). 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. New York: Oxford University Press. 1820; see also Katzenstein 1996). Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory. Identifies the norms and ideas associated with them. Less explicit attention was paid to the alternative perspectives on socialization: processes by which groups are maintained, the manner in which the targets of socialization affect both the socializers and targets of socialization (see Acharya 2004; Ba 2006), or the socialization of reluctant powerful actors (Cortell and Davis 2006; Johnston 2008). Baylis revision International Relations. 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). The identity of agents such as states matter because identity helps determine national interests. (Eds.). As Luke Glanville illustrates, while there were favorable conditions to ensure a successful R2P intervention (Gadaffi had made clear threats that evoked calls for genocide, the League of Arab States wanted international action and Libya had few allies), [E]ven those states that refused to endorse the resort to military forcerecognized the weight of the imperative to protect Libyan civilianseven if they disagreed over the means with which to do so (2016, p. 193). In P. J. Katzenstein (Ed. What does it derive its name from (it's fundamental proposition)? An alternative set of norm dynamics may be implicated when one seeks to understand change in norms themselves. International Organization, 53(3), 433468. (). 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). talk, follow norms, create rules, etc.). Springer, Cham. (1996). How strong is the nuclear taboo today? 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. The nuclear taboo: The United States and the normative basis of nuclear non-use. Critical constructivists prefer to examine state identity in terms of its wider story (Fierke and Jrgensen 2001). 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. But for constructivists, it is social structure that is important (Farrell 2002, p. 52). Part of Springer Nature. This pivot is an interesting development in norms research for two reasons. CrossRef New York: M. E. Sharpe. Constructivists are certainly aware that actual behavior in world politics fails to correlate exactly to what are in essence ideal typical models of behavior. [1] [2] [3] The most important ideational factors are those that are collectively held; these collectively held beliefs construct the interests and identities of actors. Constructing international relations: The next generation. Norms and regulations. When actors follow the logic of arguing, they seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue. To be specific, I navigated core tenets of constructivism in terms of its ontology, epistemology, and methodology, respectively. Introduction: Reconstructing epistemic communities. Likewise, culture plays a significant role in international security. International Relations from a Social Perspective. Social Constructivist International Relations and the Military. This perspective states that the . "It's refreshing to see the authors address the pedagogy of English language learners within a non-deficit model. Constructivism The international relations theory that suggests that people create their own reality, . Reuters, 2 July. John Dewey (1933/1998) is often cited as the philosophical founder of this approach. Conventional constructivism is not interested in replacing one reality of world politics with another. 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. In the last decade the development of constructivist thought and empirical research has been occurring more on terms defined by constructivism itself (Checkel 2004). New York: Columbia University Press. Katzenstein, P. J. (One of the foundational texts that covers chapters on security and strategic culture, albeit from a mainly conventional perspective). 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. Contestation over variants of universal participation then had significant impact on the evolution of the universal participation norm and climate governance outcomes. This goes against realist reliance on a world structured by anarchy that compels states to behave in certain ways, regardless of what sort of states they are (Farrell 2002, pp. 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). 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. New York: Columbia University Press. European Journal of International Relations, 3(3), 319363. Neumann, I. A further example of norm erosion can be seen in the norm against the use of torture. The promise of constructivism in international relations theory. Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. 12). 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). From this mainly structural perspective, social norms were conceptualized as an alternative to rationalist/materialist variables in explanations of world politics. Thucydides the constructivist. Guzzini, S. (2005). Early constructivist work in the 1980s and early 1990s sought to establish a countervailing approach to the material and rational theories that dominated the study of international relations (e.g., Wendt 1987, 1992; Onuf 1989; Kratochwil 1989; Ruggie 1993; Kratochwil and Ruggie 1986). It stresses the social dimensions of International relations. Moreover, military alliances are increasingly not just about physical security but about binding together states with shared interests, identities, and norms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Wendt, A. International Studies Review, 4(1), 4972. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. We dont do that: A constructivist perspective on the use and non-use of private military contractors by Denmark. They are thus animated entities that strengthen, weaken, and evolve. The realist reading of Thucydides account of the Melian Dialogue (431BC) in the Peloponnesian War is seen as the classic illustration of power politics. Identities are formed through shared meanings and understandings of the world, which then brings in culture, intersubjective or shared meanings and norms and values. Zehfuss, M. (2002). Yet Saddam did not want to appear weak to enemies such as Iran (Allen 2009). Two have become particularly prominent compliance with the strictures of social norms and change in norms themselves. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. (2) Socialization how an extant norm or a nascent norm from one community diffuses and is internalized by actors outside that community. Staff & Defence College, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Defence University College / Norwegian Military Academy, Oslo, Norway. International Organization, 52(4), 887917. Norms are also expectations about behavior (these are called regulatory norms because they define acceptable behavior). First, both types of studies may benefit from more attention to the notion of intersubjective communities and their boundaries. 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. After all, these were Cold War institutions whose purpose was now over with the end of superpower politics. Bibliographical References Adler, E. (1997). The UK and the USA are part of NATO, so share alliance membership, but have also stood shoulder to shoulder in conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq in response to global terrorism, which both states understand to be an existential threat to their way of life. Meaning is socially constructed this epistemological claim suggests that depending on ones position and perspective, knowledge and meaning produce different interpretations (Guzzini 2005, p. 498). The construction of social reality. 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. International Organization, 59(4), 701012. At the core of social constructivism is the idea that international politics - and indeed human relations - are "socially constructed" rather than "given." Its core ideas are based around three ontological positions relating to identity, ideas, and mutual constitution. 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. Interpreting the impact of a norm. Even though it was opposed by the USA, which did not want to subject its military forces to external war crime trials, it is an example of a constitutive norm (which creates new actors, interests and categories of action (Bjrkdahl 2002, pp. 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). Norms were conceptualized as having specific behavioral strictures (a relatively bounded set of appropriate behaviors) that did not change. The current literature on compliance with social norms has taken a question that motivated the socialization studies of the 1990s Why do some transnational ideas and norms find greater acceptance in a particular locale than in others? (Acharya 2004:240) in new directions. International Organization, 46(2), 391425. Post modernism is relatively new in international relations. The constructivist focus on norms is important for understanding teleological aspects of its idea of international relations that ideas can change world politics (Hopf 1998). (2017). Tannenwald, N. (2017). 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. Constructivism has provided a broader approach to understanding international relations and security beyond rationalist frameworks. Finally, the sociology of the discipline faced by early empirical constructivist studies virtually forced constructivists to adopt a focus on static norms. 2. Farrell, T. (2002). London: Routledge. Hi!Welcome back to the King's College London International Relations Today Youtube channel. It was a tool for constructivists to show that ideas, norms, and morals mattered vis--vis rationalist variables in explanations of world political phenomena. - Ikechukwu Aloysius Orjinta - Google Books Sign in Try the new Google Books Books View sample Add to my library. For example, norms can challenge practices and beliefs that are seen to be no longer fit for purpose. Cham: Springer. Constructing IR: The third generation. New York: M. E. Sharpe. Studies of compliance and contestation must grapple with this fundamental characteristic of social norms in a more explicit way moving forward. 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. 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. One set of norm dynamics may be implied when one seeks to understand how an actor outside a normative community interacts with norms when it is the target of socialization. Psychology and Constructivism in International Relations: An Ideational Alliance. 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. 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. Hoffmann (2005) employs insights from the study of complex adaptation to understand how states that all accepted the norm of universal participation in climate governance came to have different subjective understandings of that norm. Japan and identity change: Why it matters in international relations. At the core of social constructivism is the idea that international politics and indeed human relations are socially constructed rather than given. Its core ideas are based around three ontological positions relating to identity, ideas, and mutual constitution. Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). By the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, constructivists were engaging with both the small number of big important things that Waltz (1986:329, cited in Finnemore 1996:1) famously claimed for structural realism and the large number of big important things that other approaches ignored (Finnemore 1996:1). Rather it seeks to explore how the current reality evolved (Farrell 2002, p. 59). 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). Journal of European Public Policy, 6(5), 721742. Seizing the middle ground: Constructivism in world politics. Norm contestation during the US War on Terror. [3] Ideals that were really never in our possession: Torture, honor and US identity. At the same time, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) had successfully pushed for the UN to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2020. Khan, Mahnoor Iqbal, Malaika Shahbaz, Sidra Noor, Raniya Ishtiaq as... Likely related, but the norms they examined contributed to dynamic political processes, tended... 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