Alexander Wendt in the first
chapter of his book, ‘Social Theory and International Politics,’ writes that
the increasingly popular phenomenon- in 1999, when he wrote the book- amongst
the scholars of international politics is the acceptance of the notion that
international politics is socially constructed. In his book the author adds to
this notion by using one form of constructivism to ‘theorize about the
international system.’ He explains constructivism as a theory which believes in
actors being socially constructed, but does not dictate the actors which should
be studied or where they are constructed. He describes his approach as a
moderate one which endorses certain arguments advanced by individualistic and
materialistic approaches to international politics. In addition, his theory aims
to understand the international politics using the scientific approach.
According to Wendt, the once
dormant constructivist theory came in to the limelight due to the culmination
of the Cold War which left scholars perplexed. This difficulty to explain the
end of the Cold War was attributed to the individualistic and materialistic
nature of IR and it was proposed that if the scholarship took on a more
holistic view, such difficulties may be done away with. For Wendt, this well
rounded approach would concentrate more on the ideas and cultures of a state;
that is, the ideas that a state has about another and which are shaped by
social relationships, as opposed to materialistic and individualistic power
structures, to explain international politics. According to the author, power
and interests, as advocated by the realists, do indeed have value when it comes
to explaining international relations, however, their importance must not
override the emphasis which should be duly allocated to the social
relationships between states.
Since Wendt does not entirely
discredit the ideas proposed by realists and idealists, his approach has been
criticized by the more ‘firm’ believers in constructivist approach, who do not
give any leeway to rationalist perspective. However, Wendt’s work and its
contribution to the theory of international relations is undisputed.
Links used:
http://martinshaw.org/2009/12/13/review-of-wendt-social-theory-of-international-politics-2000/
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55448/g-john-ikenberry/social-theory-of-international-politics
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55448/g-john-ikenberry/social-theory-of-international-politics
His ideas have been criticized by firm believers of constructivist approach and the author himself admits sees the loophole in his argument and calls his approach as 'thin constructivism'
ReplyDeleteGood post and you're one of the few who picked up on the fact that he still employs some scientific methods to his approach. I think that we both agree that Wendt provides a good perspective to understand and interpret IR.
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