Constructivism
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 9:26 PM
• ‘Reality’ (the material world) is never completely knowable. There are always limits to
human understanding There are broadly two versions of constructivism:
1) Mainstream Constructivism is state-centric
• Also, the production of knowledge is always reflexive. What we think about the social 2) Critical Constructivism is more radical and
world effects how it operates e.g. if IR theorists tell state elites war is inevitable it may questions the construct of the state
lead them to pursue policies (preemptive strikes) and military buildups that makes this
outcome more likely. Critical constructivism reveals how truth in
international politics is not something that exists in
• There are limits to materialist and rationalist theories and of itself. Instead truth is something that is
constructed, enacted, lived and political.
• Social Constructivists are interested in how we come to understand the world
• The focus here is on how intersubjective understandings of particular phenomena
develop
• Constructivism is a general theory of the social world that has been applied to IR but did
not necessarily originate from IR
• So, for example, many neo-Keynesian theories of finance have a constructivist bent
• Why is a particular stock worth X? Because that is what the financial community believe it
is worth (Keynes compared the stock market to betting on a beauty contest)
• "It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of one's judgment, are really
the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have
reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average
opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice
the fourth, fifth and higher degrees." (Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest
and Money, 1936).
• Because financial values are formed through a process of social interaction (they are
intersubjective understanding) for Keynesians markets will be less stable (collective panic
and mania) than for more free market believers in Efficient Market Hypothesis
CONSTRUCTIVISM IN IR: KEY FACTS
1. Reality is socially constructed
The ‘stuff’ of international politics is made, not given: states, alliances, international
institutions are social phenomena
Identities are not ‘fixed’ or static, but instead should be understood in a process of social The task of IR theory should therefore
‘becoming’ be to look at how the ‘stuff’ of IR is
socially constructed & given meaning
2. Events and facts are only relevant when given meaning by actors. Meanings do not arise through social interaction
spontaneously from the world, but are produced by social and political interaction
They are socially accepted as real through practises of socialisation
E.g. The . Robert Mugabe Gukurahundi Genocide 1983-87 (20000) and White Farmers
E.g. Small boats and the channel
3. Ideas, norms and identities just as important as ‘material’ capabilities in determining
state interests
Not “balance of power”, or “capital”, but ideas structure our understanding of reality
They constrain and enable behaviour in international relations
DIVISION BETWEEN MAINSTREAM AND CRITICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
TWO VARIATIONS
All approaches to constructivism begin from the understanding that reality is socially constructed
1. Conventional Constructivism looks to refine the realist/ liberal framework, hold on to scientific
method, build a more reflexive traditional theory
Week 7 Page 1
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 9:26 PM
• ‘Reality’ (the material world) is never completely knowable. There are always limits to
human understanding There are broadly two versions of constructivism:
1) Mainstream Constructivism is state-centric
• Also, the production of knowledge is always reflexive. What we think about the social 2) Critical Constructivism is more radical and
world effects how it operates e.g. if IR theorists tell state elites war is inevitable it may questions the construct of the state
lead them to pursue policies (preemptive strikes) and military buildups that makes this
outcome more likely. Critical constructivism reveals how truth in
international politics is not something that exists in
• There are limits to materialist and rationalist theories and of itself. Instead truth is something that is
constructed, enacted, lived and political.
• Social Constructivists are interested in how we come to understand the world
• The focus here is on how intersubjective understandings of particular phenomena
develop
• Constructivism is a general theory of the social world that has been applied to IR but did
not necessarily originate from IR
• So, for example, many neo-Keynesian theories of finance have a constructivist bent
• Why is a particular stock worth X? Because that is what the financial community believe it
is worth (Keynes compared the stock market to betting on a beauty contest)
• "It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of one's judgment, are really
the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have
reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average
opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice
the fourth, fifth and higher degrees." (Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest
and Money, 1936).
• Because financial values are formed through a process of social interaction (they are
intersubjective understanding) for Keynesians markets will be less stable (collective panic
and mania) than for more free market believers in Efficient Market Hypothesis
CONSTRUCTIVISM IN IR: KEY FACTS
1. Reality is socially constructed
The ‘stuff’ of international politics is made, not given: states, alliances, international
institutions are social phenomena
Identities are not ‘fixed’ or static, but instead should be understood in a process of social The task of IR theory should therefore
‘becoming’ be to look at how the ‘stuff’ of IR is
socially constructed & given meaning
2. Events and facts are only relevant when given meaning by actors. Meanings do not arise through social interaction
spontaneously from the world, but are produced by social and political interaction
They are socially accepted as real through practises of socialisation
E.g. The . Robert Mugabe Gukurahundi Genocide 1983-87 (20000) and White Farmers
E.g. Small boats and the channel
3. Ideas, norms and identities just as important as ‘material’ capabilities in determining
state interests
Not “balance of power”, or “capital”, but ideas structure our understanding of reality
They constrain and enable behaviour in international relations
DIVISION BETWEEN MAINSTREAM AND CRITICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
TWO VARIATIONS
All approaches to constructivism begin from the understanding that reality is socially constructed
1. Conventional Constructivism looks to refine the realist/ liberal framework, hold on to scientific
method, build a more reflexive traditional theory
Week 7 Page 1
