A constructivist lens on PMCs, however, reveals how questions of national identity can also be central to their use. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saddam-idUSTRE56113O20090702. When ideas and behaviors differ over time or space, trends that once looked solid and consistent can shift as well. (). The seminal volume edited by Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink (1999) was the fountainhead for much of this research as it provided an explicit mechanism for how a particular set of human rights norms diffused beyond the community that originally endorsed them. 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). New York: Columbia University Press. First, unlike realist theory which sees actors as like units which respond to external phenomena in the same way, constructivists argue that who actors think they are matters. Some constructivists stress reflection and consider that agents are able to reason about the various pulls on their possible behavior (either solely normative/ideational pulls or those in addition to material/strategic pulls). 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. Constructivists discuss questions of identity and belief. It was first coined by Nicholas Onuf in 1989 in his book " The World of our making " where he put. (2005). Hopf, T. (1998). Behavioral logics are concrete expressions of how mutual constitution works and what motivates actors to behave they way that they do. More info. In this sense, under a constructivist lens, key concepts like sovereignty and power can take on different meanings compared to how they are understood in realist frameworks or defense-oriented establishments. Cham: Springer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Nordic strategic culture. 12). Liberty University International Relations Chapter Four: Theories of International Relations: Economic Structuralism, Constructivism, and Feminism Notes. Second, and more significantly, both the norm compliance and norm change research agendas engage seriously with notions of normative contestation, directly problematizing aspects of norm dynamics that tended to be held constant in earlier work. Instead, attempts at synthesis of constructivism and rationalism are now en vogue (e.g., Fearon and Wendt 2001; Schimmelfennig 2001, 2005; Checkel and Zurn 2005; Kornprobst 2007; Culpepper 2008; Kelley 2008). To be specific, I navigated core tenets of constructivism in terms of its ontology, epistemology, and methodology, respectively. Those facts that rely on human agreement (institutional facts) differ from brute facts (like mountains, for example), which do not need human institutions for their existence. Structures and agents influence each other. In the timeless wisdom of realist thought, the story of international relations is that the world is structured by anarchy. States interactions are socially constructed. ), Routledge handbook of private security studies (pp. This chapter will concentrate on some of the main elements that have relevance for military studies. Japan and identity change: Why it matters in international relations. The nuclear taboo is another example of a regulative norm (prescribing non-use), but it was also a constitutive norm (associating the taboo with the idea that civilized nations would not resort to using nuclear weapons) (Tannenwald 1999). Social constructivism can also help make sense of security and military phenomena, such as alliances and threat perceptions, or why states go to war. Treating social norms as fully formed, static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism. Ideas about whether actors reason about norms or through norms can be linked to underlying behavioral logics that constructivists have devised and developed since the inception of the approach. For example, norms can challenge practices and beliefs that are seen to be no longer fit for purpose. Constructivism is an International Relations (IR) theory. This chapter will take the reader through the key ideas of social constructivism also referred to as constructivism in this chapter showing how norms, culture, and ideas about identity shape actors, condition their relations with each other, and can impact the so-called given nature of international relations and transform understandings of power relations. Glanville, L. (2016). 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). Giddens (1984:22) argued that social rules do not specify all the situations which an actor might meet with, nor could [they] do so; rather, [they] provide for the generalized capacity to respond to and influence an indeterminate range of social circumstances. Until recently this insight was often bracketed and it was assumed that norm acceptors follow the norms that structure their community relatively unproblematically. 1999). In P. M. Haas (Ed. 2. 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. Constructivism has provided a broader approach to understanding international relations and security beyond rationalist frameworks. The underlying idea of the logic of appropriateness that actors draw upon ideas about what they should do in specific situations given who they are was consistent with social constructivisms commitment to the causal and constitutive (Wendt 1998) effects of norms. (Eds.). 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. Discourse has power because language can shape how we view phenomena simple acts such as defining a conflict as one of terrorism, for example, then calls into effect a range of policy options associated with countering terrorism. Introduction to International Relations Theory 100% (10) 63. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. Seizing the middle ground: Constructivism in world politics. This perspective states that the . Moreover, military alliances are increasingly not just about physical security but about binding together states with shared interests, identities, and norms. Bjrkdahl, A. (2001). 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. 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. We dont do that: A constructivist perspective on the use and non-use of private military contractors by Denmark. Kurki, M., & Sinclair, A. The superior military capabilities of the USA were a significant material advantage that should have compelled Iraq to avoid invasion. Klotz (1995), for instance, chronicled how the anti-apartheid norm shaped the expectations and actions of the US towards South Africa in the 1980s. 451497). Security institutions as agents of socialization? Pouliot and Adler draw on Bourdieu to develop a logic of practice and Hopf devised a logic of habit to reflect these concerns. 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). International Relations, 22(2), 243261. They (2005:25) note, As domestic actors search about for new ideas to legitimate their self-interested preferences, the norms and institutions of the international system often provide them. While Cortell and Davis do not problematize the substance of the financial liberalization norm under examination, they do attend to a neglected aspect of norm dynamics the actions of those actors who are targeted for socialization. Foreign Policy, 134, 5059. Theo Farrell (2002, p. 50) explains this in the following way: where actors are great powers, the social structure is an international system that gives meaning to great power and recognizes this identity in particular practices, such as the use of force against smaller states; through such practices, states great and small in turn shape the international system. If the world is anarchic, Wendt argued, it is because states believe it to be so, and seek to secure themselves by the logic that anarchy produced. As Sandholtz (2008:101) puts it disputes about acts are at the heart of a process that continually modifies social rules. While early constructivist theorizing proved to be an exciting new avenue for thinking about international relations in the abstract, both constructivists and their critics were eager to see constructivist theory applied empirically. The empirical studies in this area were diverse. (One of the foundational texts that covers chapters on security and strategic culture, albeit from a mainly conventional perspective). Norms that challenged ideas like genocide, apartheid, the use of nuclear weapons, how to treat prisoners of war, how combatants are defined, and the role of women in armed forces emerge in opposition to existing norms. Bibliographical References Adler, E. (1997). Identity and culture can be problematic categories and distract from other factors that can explain international relations, such as capitalism or patriarchy (Kurki and Sinclair 2010). Conventional constructivists like Wendt see similarities between constructivism and rationalist perspectives and methodologies. (2006). Arguments over the different actions feed back and alter the meaning of the original norms. Violation of the Geneva Conventions constitutes a war crime. Critiques of constructivism tend to come from three areas: rationalist criticisms, issues over how constructivists see identity, and finally, criticism that constructivism is apolitical. An alternative set of norm dynamics may be implicated when one seeks to understand change in norms themselves. Post Cold War Era- Provided much diverse approach to understand and analyze international relations. Yet the logic of appropriateness appears to cede the ground of purposeful, goal-oriented behavior to rationalist perspectives (whether it actually cedes this ground is an additional, and crucial question). Theories on International Relations: Social Constructivism PJ October 14, 2018 Human Rights, Law and International Relations Previous Next The social constructivist approach is distinctive in that it emphasises human consciousness and knowledge in a way that 'treats ideas as structural factors which influence how actors interpret the world.' (2017). The focus was not on analyzing norms as much as it was using norms as a device to analyze world politics. When actors follow the logic of arguing, they seek common understandings through discourse and dialogue. Constructivists used this logic in early efforts to contrast their work with more established rationalist perspectives on world politics (see especially Finnemore 1996) because the logic of appropriateness contends that actors in world politics undertake actions that are appropriate for their particular identity. This criticism over methodology, it should be noted, does not wholly apply to the conventional strand of constructivism, which Wendt says can employ positivist scientific methods to verify or falsify claims (Wendt 1999); for example, to know something about a states military culture, one could look to opinion polls, regulations, training manuals, and the curricula at military academies that can provide data or information about how ideas and norms inform approaches to military organization and culture (Farrell 2002, pp. 1 2. introduction "the focus of social constructivism is on human awareness or consciousness and its place in world affairs. In A. M. Sookermany (Ed. But the existence of a norm is dependent on continual enactment by communities of actors actors thus also experience norms, at least in part, as internal rules (Hoffmann 2005). ), The culture of national security. What if anarchy was not a given condition that ordered world politics? Journal of European Public Policy, 6(4), 669681. This logic structured seminal empirical work that endeavored to show how ideational and normative factors could explain puzzles in world politics (e.g., Klotz 1995; Finnemore 1996). For decades, the theory of International Relations was dominated by two approaches: realism and liberalism. 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. Presents a social constructivist reading of securitization theory that, besides the Copenhagen school, also includes other constructivist interpretations of security that draw on securitization and speech act theory. Constructivism and the nature of international relations Constructivism efforts to give a better understanding of international relations by its method which is based on social theory. Social constructivism is well suited to address continuous changes in European integration. As Farrell tells us, liberals and realists do not agree on what prevents war is it democracy (as liberals would contend?) Certainly actors are strategic, but constructivist logic dictates that the normative context defines and shapes that strategic behavior (Muller 2004). Norm shift around the idea of sovereignty can be seen in the pillars of R2P that say that if a state cannot or will not stop human rights abuses within its own territory, other states have a compelling reason to intervene. Liberal international relations theory and the military. To be sure, the international relations literature still contains healthy debate and sparring between constructivism and realism/liberalism (e.g., Petrova 2003; Fehl 2004; Williams 2004; Goddard and Nexon 2005; Srenson 2008). This is natural given that this work is still in the area of socialization. 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). As Koschut (2014, p. 525) explains, this can transform the behaviour of states from a self-help manner to trust-building. Think here about realist logic at the end of the Cold War with the demise of bipolarity, NATO should have gone the same way as the Warsaw Pact. 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).) Only those with equal power could make such demands, and the Athenians make good on their threat to destroy the Melians, declaring that might is right and the weak suffer what they must (Thucydides 1951, pp. The basics of constructivism Finally, the third theory of international relations, known as Constructivism, focuses on ideas, shared beliefs and identity as the main drivers of success. In K. M. Fierke & K. E. Jrgensen (Eds. The rise of social constructivist thought in international relations theory as part of the fourth debate (see International Relations and Military Sciences by Roennfeldt in this volume) represented one of those break through moments that challenged some of the orthodoxy and key assumptions that guided the discipline. In: Sookermany, A.M. (eds) Handbook of Military Sciences. ), Do the Geneva Conventions matter? In discursive terms, language can convey meaning and associations, and define what is considered within and outside the norms (see Poststructuralism in International Relations: Discourse and the Military by Baumann in this volume). Third, critical scholars argue that constructivism is deeply flawed because it is apolitical, does not adequately analyze categories such as norms, or simply resurrects rationalist ideas. What was it all about after all? 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). 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. The study and practice of international relations has led international relations scholars to suggest different . 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