Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables, figures and boxes
- Contributors
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Guide to online instructor resources
- Introduction: The origins and changing agendas of international relations
- Part 1 Theories of International Relations
- Chapter 1 International Relations theory in an age of critical diversity
- Chapter 2 Liberalism
- Chapter 3 Realism
- Chapter 4 Marxism and critical theory
- Chapter 5 Feminism
- Chapter 6 Postmodernism
- Chapter 7 Constructivism
- Chapter 8 Postcolonialism
- Part 2 International history
- Part 3 The traditional agenda: States, wars and law
- Part 4 The new agenda: Globalisation and global challenges
- References
- Index
- Figure and text acknowledgements
Chapter 7 - Constructivism
from Part 1 - Theories of International Relations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables, figures and boxes
- Contributors
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Guide to online instructor resources
- Introduction: The origins and changing agendas of international relations
- Part 1 Theories of International Relations
- Chapter 1 International Relations theory in an age of critical diversity
- Chapter 2 Liberalism
- Chapter 3 Realism
- Chapter 4 Marxism and critical theory
- Chapter 5 Feminism
- Chapter 6 Postmodernism
- Chapter 7 Constructivism
- Chapter 8 Postcolonialism
- Part 2 International history
- Part 3 The traditional agenda: States, wars and law
- Part 4 The new agenda: Globalisation and global challenges
- References
- Index
- Figure and text acknowledgements
Summary
This chapter presents the outlines of a constructivist understanding of world politics. We begin with a discussion of state identity and explore how identity defines and bounds state actions. To illustrate this concept, we address issues central to the study of world politics: change, governance and security. Overall, our goal is to present a textured, layered understanding of the international realm based on a notion taken for granted in much of IR theory, meaning. Constructivism is the newest but perhaps the most dynamic of the main theories of international relations. Unlike liberalism and realism (see Chapters 2 and 3), which have taken their bearings from developments in economic and political theory, constructivism – like Critical Theory (see Chapter 4) – is rooted in insights from social theory (e.g. Berger and Luckmann 1967; Giddens 1984) and the philosophy of knowledge (Golinski 2005; Hacking 1999; Searle 1995).
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- An Introduction to International Relations , pp. 95 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024