POSC 2200

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POSC 2200 Theoretical Approaches

• Russell Alan Williams
• Department of Political Science

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Unit Two Theoretical Approaches

• Alternative Approaches - Constructivism,
  Poststructuralism and Feminism
• Required Reading
• Globalization of World Politics, Chapters 8, 9,
  10 and 16.
• Alexander Wendt, Anarchy is what states make of
  it The social construction of power politics,
  International Organization, Vol. 46(2), (Spring
  1992), Pp. 391-425. (Available as an excerpt
  available from the instructor.)
• Outline
• Introduction
• Constructivism
• Poststructuralism
• Feminism
• Conclusions
• For Next Time

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1) Introduction

• Remaining theories are
• 1) Newer work in progress . . .
• 2) Mainly focused on the role of ideas in
  international politics
• Re-opens old debates in IR
• Are there rules or values that affect behavior
  separate from national interests?
• Critics These approaches return to idealism
  Similar insistence that we should pursue a
  moral or ethical IR . . . .
• Introduces concerns omitted/silenced by other
  theories
• Role of culture and role of gender
• However, unclear status as theories
• More critical scholars reject variables and
  hypothesis

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• Key Thinkers
• Liberal or mainstream constructivism
• M. Finnemore
• A. Wendt
• Critical poststructuralism
• R. B. J. Walker
• Feminism
• C. Enloe

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2) Constructivism

• Key claim Ideas or norms structure
  international politics
• Norms are produced by state interaction over
  time and non-state actors committed to certain
  ideas
• E.g. the global anti slavery movement (19th
  century)
• Key problem Both realism and modern liberalism
  (E.g. Neoliberal institutionalism) are
  committed to materialism
• Actors have fixed and predictable interests
  based on what is available in the material world
• E.g. All states and individuals want the same
  things regardless of culture, values or even
  norms . . . .

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• Constructivists argue that values define those
  interests based on what people believe
• Similar challenge to study of domestic politics
  we need to know what actors believe
• E.g. Survey people about their beliefs?
• Requires more attention to cultural discourses
  and ideological commitments of elites
• E.g. Examine cultural attitudes in media and art

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• Types
• 1) Epistemic Communities Expert groups dealing
  with complex and technical problems that shape
  how states see certain problems.
• National interest cannot exist outside this
  advice
• 2) Focus on Norms and Diffusion/Institutional
  ization
• Norms inter-subjective values about what is
  normal and not normal
• E.g. Sovereignty
• Treated as a fact by other approaches exists
  when states have power
• But really based on recognition by other states
  (?) and has only existed since the ideas were
  created by the Peace of Westphalia
• Has spread (diffused) throughout world and is
  now taken for granted (Institutionalized) -
  there wouldnt be 192 states in world without
  this norm . . . .

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• Logic of Consequences Norms about IR shape
  how decision makers calculate costs and benefits
  of action
• Logic of Appropriateness States have social
  identities which make them want to act
  appropriate to that identity
• Unless you are a rogue state you will want your
  actions to appear justified and legitimate
• Example Intervention in another state in
  violation of sovereignty must be justified by
  reference to some other norm
• E.g. Afghanistan (2001) vs. Iraq (2003)

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3) Post-structuralism

• Similar to Constructivism in focus on ideas,
  but more critical . . . .
• Constructivism remains committed to social
  science shame on them(!)
• Post-structuralism rejects foundationalist
  ontology
• No outside world of independently knowable facts
  we create/construct that world through our
  beliefs
• IR is seen as a discourse the creation of
  ideas that order the world into categories
  independent of any foundational reality
• IR discourse Power
• Scholarship is about creating meanings that
  privilege some concerns and suppress others

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• E.g. R.B.J. Walker on sovereignty . . . .
• Not just a norm!
• Sovereignty constructs the political universe
  separating politics and values (inside sovereign
  states) from international relations.
• Has big political implications for normative
  political philosophy ethical duties end at
  borders!
• E.g. Killing of civilians during war . . . .
• Creates identities that divide people and are
  in some way, risky, because they are not based
  on some separate reality
• Real problem with IR is social science, which
  masks our actions in pseudo scientific validity .
  . . .

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• However, both Constructivism
  Poststructuralism share a fundamental rejection
  of realism
• Distribution of power, balance of power etc.
  understood in material terms means nothing
  outside of norms, values, or discourse
• Power is relational it only means something
  in a cultural context
• E.g. Some states do not see each others power as
  threatening
• E.g. Canada and the United States
• History, and culture frame who is a friend and
  who is a foe . . .

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• Example Alexander Wendt Aliens and the security
  dilemma
• Security Dilemma Power is relative anything
  that makes one state secure is inherently
  threatening to other states
• Closely related to neorealism and offensive
  realism no role for interpretation
• Wendt Imagine aliens arrive on earth . . .
• Neorealism Attack them, before it is too
  late!
• Constructivism We dont know whether we
  should see them as threatening or not
• It will depend on how our interactions unfold
• It may also depend on our/their culture (?)

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4) Feminism

• Not really new, but its influence is growing in
  international politics
• Feminism A broader social program aimed at
  understanding womens position and addressing
  inequality and oppression
• International politics is both based on, and
  contributes to Gender Relations
• how masculinity and femininity are
  constructed is part of the theory and practices
  of international politics
• Concerns have evolved
• Liberal feminism ? ? ? Poststructural feminism

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• Gender relations in practice
• Patriarchy creates separate gender roles in
  which women are often in a subservient position
• E.g. breadwinner myth
• E.g. The Double Burden
• Contributes to a global Gendered Division of
  Labour in which women do not receive the same
  benefits and opportunities as men
• Poststructural feminists also emphasize the
  broader commodification of women in global
  capitalism

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• Gender relations in the study of international
  politics
• Female scholarship has been marginalized
• IR has been seen as non-gendered, though many
  of its ideas seem to sneak in gender
  constructions (?)
• E.g. Hobbes state of nature
• E.g. Security language is sexualized
• E.g. The Protection Myth and the construction
  of international security
• Does IR glorify mens role in conflict and make
  women passive victims of insecurity?

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The Melian Dialogue Thucydides and the
Peloponnesian War

• Constructivism Athens acted inappropriately
  - outside of norms Rogue state
• Poststructuralism Thucydides is just an
  ancient George Lucas - what lessons can we learn
  from his story outside of the messages he was
  trying to convince us of? Danger of basing
  todays policy on tall tales
• Feminism Ah . . . we are basing our ideas
  about IR on fairytales about men with spears . .
  . . Really? This is exactly how IR gets
  gendered we should talk about the world we
  live in . . . .

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5) Conclusions

• Key Actors/Units of Analysis
• A) Individuals
• B) Cultures
• Potentially dangerous implications???
• C) States states are agents
• May follow norms, but may not . . .

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• View of individual Not rational - at least not
  in ways other theories assume
• Individuals socialized into pre-existing world
  views
• Can these views be changed for the better?
• View of the state
• Agent influenced by identities/values
• Less important as an actor then Realism, but
  still important
• View of international system
• Distribution of power and material capabilities
  less important
• Norms provide considerable structure
• Change is entirely possible and should be sought
• Anarchy bad?
• Soverignty bad?

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5) Strengths Weakness of Newer Approaches

• Strengths
• There are probably norms in IR . . .
• Interpretation, based on values, matters . . .

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• Weaknesses
• Although it argues for a normative IR, it is
  possible that critical ideas undermine this . . .
  .
• Cultural relativism there is no universal
  standard of right or wrong
• There is no correct foreign policy

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6) For Next Time . . .

• Unit Three Nationalism, Nations States and
  Foreign Policy
• October 1 Nationalism and States in the
  International System
• Required Reading
• Globalization of World Politics, Chapter 24.
• Strobe Talbott, Self-Determination in an
  Interdependent World, Foreign Policy, No. 118
  (Spring, 2000), pp. 152-163. (Available from the
  instructor.)