constructivism Flashcards
when was constructivism born and why
after the cold war the dominant theories were unable to explain why the cold war ended how it did
constructivism seeked to explain:
1) the social side of IR
2) why changes occur in the world system
3) how historical and cultural contexts are important in understanding
what did john searl say about facts
brute facts are things that exist without human institutions ( a mountain is a mountain with or without human label)
institutional facts are facts that only exist because the value that human institutions have given it ( a banknote is just a piece of paper)
what is social reality
social reality is the result of social construction as a result of human interaction giving things meaning
everything around us is given meaning through human interactions and based on context and rimw
intial lessons of constuctivism
1) social life is not predetermined and is the result of many individual choices
2) we have agency
3) existance is haped by interactions, norms and values
who is wendt
wendt is one of the leading constuctivist theroists who beleives that constuctivism can be seen as an IR theory
he is mostly concerned with identity. for example the fact that enemies and allies are treated the same despite doing the same thing is not sufficntly explained by anarchy and instead needs a deeper explaination
identity according to wendt
- identity is formed as the result of constant human interaction. the ‘self looking glass’ is a representation of an actors socialisation
- overtime your idenity becomes solidified
- identity is what infroms interests rather than anarchy infroming it
how do identited change
1) end of concecnus
2) denaturalisation of idenitity and identification of new opportunties
3) altercasting
