He considers that existing norms constrain the possibilities for action, but that different understandings of those norms inevitably arise in the community of norm acceptors. Constructivists are often too fast and loose with the use of the term norm without a concomitant discussion of what the community of norm acceptors looks like and by what criteria we can identify a community of norm acceptors. Moreover, one of constructivisms strongest contributions has been in relation to the agency-structure debate, showing how mutual constitution provides a different reading of world politics and international relations but also opens the possibility for change. The simplification of social norm dynamics at the foundation of the initial wave of constructivist norms writing contributed to the meteoric rise of social constructivism within the international relations literature. As shared objects, they appear as external to any particular actor actors experience norms, at least in part, as external rules. Within this ), The culture of national security: Norms and identity in world politics (pp. The growth of Private Military Companies (PMCs) or Private Military Security Contractors (PMSCs) in the 1990s and their increased use in conflicts has been a consequence of a range of different factors: increasing neo-liberalization, cuts to defense budgets and a desire for states to outsource security. [3] (2017). In military exercises with other nations, states share practices and ideas and in doing so, learn from each other. 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. 219227). Yet this dominant view of international relations was significantly challenged by Alexander Wendt in the early 1990s with the simple premise: anarchy is what states make of it (Wendt 1992, pp. While arguments remain about constructivisms ontological commitments and efforts to build a bridge between rationalist and reflectivist approaches, its relevance for military studies can be widely seen in terms of how it can broaden thinking about how to see and respond to other actors in terms of security and cooperation. While constructivists know that social norms are always being reconstituted in the dynamic interplay of agents and social structures known as mutual constitution, social norms do elicit common behavioral expectations such that they are recognizable as relatively stable shared ideas. 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. Adler, E., & Barnett, M. However, this focus did little to advance understanding of how norms themselves change without necessarily being replaced (Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Hoffmann 2005; Chwieroth 2008; Sandholtz 2008). Liberal international relations theory and the military. Social theory of international politics. 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. Scholars working in this vein often begin by critiquing the analytic move to freeze the content of norms. Treating social norms as fully formed, static constructs, even for analytic convenience, underplayed this dynamism. Social Constructivist International Relations and the Military, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_105-1, Springer Reference Political Science & International Studies, Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences, Realist International Relations Theory and The Military, International Relations and Military Sciences, Liberal International Relations Theory and The Military, Poststructuralism in International Relations: Discourse and the Military, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saddam-idUSTRE56113O20090702, https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 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. Instead social norms are generic rules that allow agents to behave and get along in a wide range of situations. 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). (2001). ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. Wiener (2004:203) argues that the interpretation of the meaning of norms, in particular, the meaning of generic sociocultural norms, cannot be assumed as stable and uncontested. This standpoint of Constructivism is contrary to the 'atomized' 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. A key illustration here is the norm of human rights, which is widely accepted by actors (Katzenstein 1996). (1998). forthcoming). ), Epistemic communities, constructivism, and international environmental politics (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). Foreign Policy, 134, 5059. Philosophy of military sciences. 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. In addition, taking constructivist thought to its logical conclusion, there is no such thing as nonnormative behavior or pure material self-interest independent of a normative context. Instead, constructivism is held together by consensus on broader questions of social process its position on the agent-structure problem and the primacy of the ideational and the intersubjective aspects of social life (for overviews of constructivism see Onuf 1998; Ruggie 1998; Finnemore and Sikkink 2001; Ba and Hoffmann 2003). This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. Constructivism (International Relations) For decades, the international relations theory field was comprised largely of two more dominant approaches: the theory of realism, and liberalism/pluralism. For decades, the theory of International Relations was dominated by two approaches: realism and liberalism. These works argue that norms do not provide fully specified rules for every situation, and especially not for novel situations. But NATO transformed itself into something more than a military alliance. 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. Introduction by Finley, John H. New York: Random House. "It's refreshing to see the authors address the pedagogy of English language learners within a non-deficit model. Not all states interpret power in the material or hierarchical sense. Trust, collective identity, shared norms, and intersubjective meanings are important for alliances and security communities, helping to ensure collective vision and purpose (Adler and Barnett 1998). for example, is that ideas and norms are hard to test empirically (Moravcsik 1999); they are intangible things that are difficult to measure or quantify, and it is hard to know if they played a significant role in affecting behavior (Farrell 2002, p. 60). Captured by Alexander Wendts now-famous maxim anarchy is what states make of it, social constructivism is the idea that the world out there is not given, as realists would argue, but rather, socially constructed. In doing so, social constructivism places a focus on the importance of mutual constitution: international politics is shaped by both structures, such as anarchy, or agents, such as states and other actors. Conventional constructivists like Wendt see similarities between constructivism and rationalist perspectives and methodologies. 6667). Empirically oriented constructivists worked to show that shared ideas about appropriate state behavior had a significant impact on the nature and functioning of world politics. This is particularly relevant to military studies in terms of understanding the strategic culture of specific states: culture can have an important influence on how states see security, how they interpret threat and train and organize their military forces. New York: Routledge. After all, these were Cold War institutions whose purpose was now over with the end of superpower politics. In addition, rather than taking the external norm as given, recent socialization studies examine compliance with international norms as a process by which states (already normatively constituted) interact with, manipulate, and (sometimes) incorporate external ideas in a dynamic fashion. The market for ontological security. Considering other factors to explain why states behave the way they do. 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. 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. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. Yet, constructivists are beginning to define their enterprise more independently of competing approaches. International Studies Review, 4(1), 4972. The social construction of Swedish neutrality: Challenges to Swedish identity and sovereignty. If any further proof were needed for the continuing rise to fame of constructivism in International Relations, this would be it . Certainly actors are strategic, but constructivist logic dictates that the normative context defines and shapes that strategic behavior (Muller 2004). This also goes to the foundation of questions of the causes of war. Conformance how social norms as intersubjective objects stabilize expectations and even bound what is considered to be possible (Yee 1996) was a crucial area for constructivists because without evidence of conformance with the strictures of social norms, constructivists could not demonstrate that norms mattered. Sandholtz (2008:121) deems this to be a built-in dynamic of change whereby the ever present gap between general rules and specific situations, as well as the inevitable tension between norms, creates openings for disputes.. What was it all about after all? Social constructionism is not the norm. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), 2543. This chapter will concentrate on some of the main elements that have relevance for military studies. Prominent in this part of the literature was Finnemore and Sikkinks (1998) development of the norm life cycle whereby normative entrepreneurs (see also Nadelmann 1990) work to persuade states of the appropriateness of a new norm and serve as a catalyst for a cascade of new normative understandings. The superior military capabilities of the USA were a significant material advantage that should have compelled Iraq to avoid invasion. European Journal of International Relations, 5(4), 435450. or alliances (as realists would argue?). Social Constructivism Summary Notes. (A vital critique of conventional constructivism that uses the case study of Germany and the debates to join in military interventions outside the NATO area). They posited the LoA as a corrective. Despite their position of material weakness, the Melians argued that freedom and justice are more important. 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