Chapter 9: Constructivism By Karin Fierke

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Chapter 9 Constructivism By Karin Fierke
International Relations Theories Discipline and
Diversity
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Learning Outcomes

• After this lecture you should be able to
• Appreciate the added value of constructivism
• Understand where it fits into the discipline
• Appreciate some of the inconsistencies that have
  arisen in constructivism
• Recognise the benefits of a more consistent
  approach as demonstrated with the case study of
  NATO enlargement

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Constructivism

• International relations is a social construction
• States, alliances or international institutions
  are examples of social phenomenon in IR
• They take specific historical, cultural and
  political forms
• These forms are a product of human interaction in
  a social world
• Social phenomena do not exist independent of
  human meaning and action

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Central Themes

• Change
• Idea of social construction suggests difference
  across context not a single objective reality
• Social dimensions
• Emphasise norms, rules and language and how
  material and ideational factors combine in the
  construction of different possibilities and
  outcomes
• Processes of interaction
• Actors make choices in the process of
  interacting with others bringing historically,
  culturally and politically distinct realities
  into being

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Conventional Constructivism

• Occupies the middle ground
• The debate with rationalists has come to occupy
  an important place in the discipline
• Adds a social dimension to rationalism
• Epistemology indebted to
• positivism

Poststructuralism
Rationalism
Constructivism
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Constructivism and Rationalism

• Ontology reject individualist ontology of
  rationalism in
• favour of a social ontology
• Structures and agents structures not only
  constrain actors
• they also constitute identities
• Mutual constitution the individual or state
  influences their
• environment as well as being influenced by it
• Social cognition intersubjective meanings are
  collective
• knowledge not the aggregation of individual
  beliefs

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Epistemology

• By accepting positivist epistemology
  constructivists have gained considerable
  legitimacy
• This includes hypothesis testing, causality and
  explanation
• However there is a tension between conventional
  constructivism and that with its roots in the
  linguistic turn, particularly regarding
  consistency

Inconsistent Constructivism
Social Ontology
Positivist Epistemology
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Consistent Constructivism Language and Rules

• Emphasis on epistemology that is heavily indebted
  to the linguistic turn
• Linguistic turn cannot get behind our language
  to compare it to that which it describes
• Consistent constructivism based on an
  understanding of language and action as
  rule-based
• Requires that we look and see how language is
  put to use by social actors as they construct
  their world

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Consistent Constructivism Reasons and Causes

• Reasons and causes often conflated
• To identify causes or intentions requires
  interpretation
• Reasons can be given in public language and make
  actions possible
• Presence of WMD in Iraq reason allowed
  invasion
• Should focus less on the desire for ultimate
  truth and more on social fact that the action
  happened and then how this became possible

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Case Study The Construction of NATO Expansion

• How can we explain the persistence and expansion
  of NATO after the Cold War?
• Neorealists and neoliberals can only provide
  partial explanation
• Constructivists
• Importance of values and material interests
• NATOs shared values and norms of liberal
  democracy propelling expansion
• Liberal democratic identity of NATO driving
  process suggests values and norms more
  important (Schimmelfennig, 1999)

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Case Study continued

• Two problems
• Why is the spreading of values more important?
• NATOs initial reluctance to expand
• Consistent constructivism
• Dialogue importance for all participants
• Speech acts had to act consistently with ideals
  espoused during the Cold War
• Recognition identity depended on consistency
  between words and actions
• Dictated enlargement to the East

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Conclusion

• Added value of constructivism is found in the
  central themes of change, sociality and processes
  of interaction
• Meaning of constructivism transformed over time
• Construction of constructivism in line with
  positivism has generated inconsistencies
• However, engagement with the mainstream has
  allowed for the broadening of dialogue as to
  appropriate methods for a constructivist approach