Abstract
International Relations's (IR's) intellectual history is almost always treated as a history of ideas in isolation from both those discursive and political economies which provide its disciplinary and wider (political) context. This paper contributes to this wider analysis by focusing on the impact of the field's discursive economy. Specifically, using Foucaultian archaeologico-genealogical strategy of problematization to analyse the emergence and disciplinary trajectories of Constructivism in IR, this paper argues that Constructivism has been brought gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart through a process of normalization, and investigates how it was possible for Constructivism to be purged of its early critical potential, both theoretical and practical. The first part of the paper shows how the intellectual configuration of Constructivism and its disciplinary fortunes are inseparable from far-from-unproblematic readings of the Philosophy of Social Science: the choices made at this level are neither as intellectually neutral nor as disciplinarily inconsequential as they are presented. The second and third parts chart the genealogies of Constructivism, showing how its overall normalization occurred in two stages, each revolving around particular practices and events. The second part concentrates on older genealogies, analysing the politics of early classificatory practices regarding Constructivism, and showing how these permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism – and thus of the rest of the mainstream scholarship which it was depicted as compatible with – against more radical Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques. Finally, the third part focuses attention on recent genealogies, revealing new attempts to reconstruct and reformulate Constructivism: here, indirect neutralization practices such as the elaboration of ‘Pragmatist’ Constructivism, as well as the direct neutralization such as the formulation of ‘Realist’ Constructivism, are key events in Constructivism's normalization. These apparently ‘critical’ alternatives that aim to ‘provide the identity variable’ in fact remain close to Neo-utilitarianism, but their successful representation as ‘critical’ help neutralize calls for greater openness in mainstream IR. Rather than a simple intellectual history, it is this complex process of (re)reading and (re)producing that counts as ‘Constructivism’, which explains both the normalization of Constructivism and the continued marginalization of Postmodernist/Post-structuralist approaches in mainstream IR's infra-disciplinary balance of intellectual power.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Although the division is usually framed in positivist/post-positivist terms, we resort to this alternative labelling for reasons elucidated further below (see especially ‘Blind spots’ and Figure 3).
Capitalized terms refer to IR scholarship, whereas lower-case terms designate PoSS positions.
Partially shared key assumptions by empiricists and logical positivists sometimes lead to their incorrect conflation. We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for emphasizing this point.
Bhaskar (1997) distinguishes between general scientific-realist theory of science (‘transcendental realism’) and a narrower version appertaining to social science (‘critical naturalism’).
Several earlier formulations echo Hopf's. Adler (1997) distinguishes between modern, legal, narrative and genealogical Constructivism, with the first three falling under Hopf's ‘conventional’ rubric. Adler (1997, 2003) speaks about a ‘weak programme’ designating Neo-Kantian Constructivism close to (3B) and a scientific ‘strong programme’, encapsulating most IR Constructivists. Price and Reus-Smit (1998) and Reus-Smit (2002) distinguish between minimal foundationalist/positivist/modern and anti-foundationalist/interpretive/postmodern currents.
Sterling-Folker (2000) consequently argues that functionalist/liberal logic is inherent to all Constructivism, subsuming under this rubric (neo)Functionalism and (neo)Liberal Institutionalism.
The taxonomies discussed are actually defined in methodological rather than ontological or epistemological terms, further ‘neutralizing’ ‘thick’ Constructivism, because Postmodern/Post-structural methods are considered ‘unscientific’.
Ironically, the representation of social scientific scholarship as bias-free justifies criticism of Postmodernists/Post-structuralists on the grounds of their normative commitments (for example Reus-Smit, 2002, p. 501; Checkel, 2004, p. 236).
Widmaier is probably aware of Millennium's special issue, as he cites Isacoff's contribution, although this is the sole piece he refers, ignoring Haas and Haas’ introductory paper.
References
Adler, E. (1997) Seizing the middle ground: Constructivism in world politics. European Journal of International Relations 3 (3): 319–363.
Adler, E. (2003) Constructivism and International Relations. In: W. Carlsnaes, T. Risse and B.A. Simmons (eds.) Handbook of International Relations. London: Sage, pp. 95–118.
Adler, E. and Barnett, M.N. (eds.) (1998) Security Communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Albert, M. and Kopp-Malek, T. (2002) The pragmatism of global and European governance: Emerging forms of the political “Beyond Westphalia”. Millennium 31 (3): 453–472.
Archer, M. (1998) Introduction: Realism in Social Sciences. In: M. Archer et al (eds.) Critical Realism: Essential Readings. London: Routledge, pp. 189–205.
Ashley, R. (1986) The Poverty of Neorealism. In: R.O. Keohane (ed.) Neorealism and its Critics. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 255–300.
Ashley, R. (1987) The geopolitics of geopolitical space. Alternatives 12 (4): 403–434.
Ayer, A.J. (ed.) (1978) Logical Positivism. New York: Free Press.
Barkin, S. (2003) Realist constructivism. International Studies Review 5: 325–342.
Bhaskar, R. (1979) The Possibility of Naturalism. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.
Bhaskar, R. (1997[1975]) A Realist Theory of Science. London: Verso.
Bohman, J. (2002) How to make a social science practical: Pragmatism, critical social science and multiperspectival theory. Millennium 31 (3): 499–524.
Campbell, D. (1998[1992]) Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Carnap, R. (1978 [1931]) The Elimination of Metaphysics through Logical Analysis of Language. In: A.J. Ayer (ed.) Logical Positivism. New York: Free Press, pp. 60–81.
Checkel, J. (1997) International norms and domestic politics: Bridging the rationalist-constructivist divide. European Journal of International Relations 3 (4): 473–495.
Checkel, J. (1998) The constructivist turn in international relations theory. World Politics 50 (2): 324–348.
Checkel, J. (2004) Social constructivisms in global and European studies: A review essay. Review of International Studies 30 (2): 229–244.
Cochran, M. (2002) Deweyan pragmatism and post-positivist social science in IR. Millennium 31 (3): 525–548.
Copeland, D.C. (2000) The constructivist challenge to structural realism: A review essay. International Security 25 (2): 187–212.
Cox, R. (1983) Gramsci, hegemony, and international relations: An essay in method. Millennium 12 (2): 162–175.
Deibert, R.J. (1997) “Exorcismus Theoriae”: Pragmatism, metaphors and the return of the medieval in IR theory. European Journal of International Relations 3 (2): 167–192.
Der Derian, J. (1987) On Diplomacy: A Genealogy of Western Estrangement. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Der Derian, J. and Shapiro, M. (eds.) (1989) International/Intertextual Relations: Postmodern Readings of World Politics. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Deutsch, K. et al (1957) Political Community: North-Atlantic Area. New York: Greenwood Press.
Farrell, T. (2002) Constructivist security studies: Portrait of a research program. International Studies Review 4 (1): 49–72.
Foucault, M. (1984) Nietzsche, Genealogy, History. In: P. Rabinow (ed.) The Foucault Reader. London: Penguin, pp. 76–100.
Foucault, M. (1992 [1984]) History of Sexuality, Vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure. London: Penguin.
Foucault, M. (2002 [1969]) The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Routledge.
van Fraassen, B.C. (1980) The Scientific Image. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
George, J. (1994) Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical (Re)Introduction to International Relations. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Guzzini, S. (2000) A reconstruction of constructivism in international relations. European Journal of International Relations 6 (2): 147–182.
Haas, E.B. (1958) The Uniting of Europe. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Haas, P.M. and Haas, E.B. (2002) Pragmatic constructivism and the study of international institutions. Millennium 31 (3): 573–602.
Hamlet, L. (2003) Rethinking realism with a constructivist twist. International Studies Review 5: 284–286.
Harré, R. and Madden, E. (1975) Causal Powers. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hoffman, M. (1987) Critical theory and the inter-paradigm debate. Millennium 16 (3): 231–249.
Hoffman, M. (1991) Restructuring, reconstruction, reinscription, rearticulation: Four voices in critical international theory. Millennium 20 (2): 169–185.
Hopf, T. (1998) The promise of constructivism in IR theory. International Security 23 (1): 171–200.
Hynek, N. (2005) Socialni konstruktivismus [Social Constructivism]. In: P. Pseja (ed.) Prehled teorii mezinarodnich vztahu [A Survey of Theories of International Relations]. Brno, Czech Republic: The International Institute of Political Science, pp. 129–144.
Hynek, A. and Hynek, N. (2007) Investigating hybrids and coproductions: Epistemologies, (Disciplinary) politics and landscapes. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Geographica 41 (1): 3–20.
Jackson, P.T. (ed.) (2004) Bridging the gap: Toward a realist–constructivist dialogue. International Studies Review 6 (2004) (The Forum on Realist-Constructivism) 337–352.
Jackson, P.T. and Nexon, D.H. (2004) Constructivist realism or realist-constructivism? International Studies Review 6: 337–341.
Jepperson, R.L., Wendt, A. and Katzenstein, P.J. (1996) Norms, Identity, and Culture in National Security. In: P.J. Katzenstein (ed.) The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Jørgensen, K.E. (2001) Four Levels and a Discipline. In: K.M. Fierke and K.E. Jørgensen (eds.) Constructing International Relations: The Next Generation. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Katzenstein, P.J., Keohane, R.O. and Krasner, S.D. (1998) International organization and the study of world politics. International Organization 52 (4): 645–685.
Keohane, R. (1986) Neorealism and its Critics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kolakowski, L. (1972) Positivist Philosophy. London: Penguin.
Kratochwil, F.V. (1988) Regimes, interpretation and the “Science” of politics: A reappraisal. Millennium 17 (2): 263–284.
Kratochwil, F.V. (1989) Rules, Norms, and Decisions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kratochwil, F.V. and Ruggie, J.G. (1986) International organization: A state of the art or an art of the state? International Organization 40 (4): 753–775.
Kuhn, T.S. (1979) Metaphor in Science. In: A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 409–419.
Linklater, A. (1990) Beyond Realism and Marxism: Critical Theory and International Relations. London: Macmillan.
Lipton, P. (1991) Inference to the Best Explanation. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Lynch, M. (1999) State Interests and Public Spheres: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mattern, J.B. (2004) Power in realist–constructivist research. International Studies Review 6 (2): 343–346.
Neufeld, M. (1993) Reflexivity and international relations theory. Millennium 22 (1): 53–76.
Neumann, I.B. (2002) Returning practice to the linguistic turn: The case of diplomacy. Millennium 31 (3): 627–652.
Onuf, N.G. (1989) World of Our Making: Rules and Rule in Social Theory and International Relations. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Onuf, N.G. (2001) The Strange Career of Constructivism in International Relations. Proceedings from the workshop “(Re)Constructing Constructivist International Relations Research”; Center for International Studies, University of Southern California.
Outhwaite, W. (1998) Realism and Social Science. In: M. Archer et al (ed.) Critical Realism: Essential Readings. London: Routledge, pp. 282–296.
Owen, D. (2002) Re-orienting international relations: On pragmatism, pluralism and practical reasoning. Millennium 31 (3): 653–674.
Popper, K.R. (1959) The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books.
Price, R. and Reus-Smit, C. (1998) Dangerous liaisons? Critical international theory and constructivism. European Journal of International Relations 4 (3): 259–294.
Putnam, H. (1990) Realism with a Human Face. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Reus-Smit, C. (2002) Imagining society: Constructivism and the English school. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 4 (3): 487–509.
Rorty, R. (1979) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rorty, R. (1982) Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Rorty, R. (1991) Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rorty, R. (1998) Truth and Progress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruggie, J.G. (1998) What makes the world hang together? Neo-utilitarianism and the social constructivist challenge. International Organization 52 (4): 855–885.
Russell, B. (1978 [1924]) Logical Atomism. In: A.J. Ayer (ed.) Logical Positivism. New York: Free Press, pp. 31–52.
Sayer, A.R. (1992) Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach. London: Routledge.
Sayer, A.R. (1998) Abstraction: A Realist Interpretation. In: M. Archer et al (ed.) Critical Realism: Essential Readings. London: Routledge, pp. 120–143.
Sayyid, B. and Zac, L. (1998) Political Analysis in a World without Foundations. In E. Scarbrough and E. Tanenbaum (eds.) Research Strategies in the Social Sciences: A Guide to New Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 247–267.
Schlick, M. (1978 [1932]) Positivism and Realism. In: A.J. Ayer (ed.) Logical Positivism. New York: Free Press, pp. 82–107.
Searle, J. (1995) The Construction of Social Reality. London: Penguin Books.
Sellars, R.W. (1970) Principles of Emergent Realism: Philosophical Essays. St. Louis, MO: Warren H. Green.
Sismondo, S. (1996) Science Without Myth: On Constructions, Reality, and Social Knowledge. New York: SUNY.
Smith, S. (2001) Foreign Policy is What States Make of it: Social Constructivism and International Relations Theory. In: V. Kubálková (ed.) Foreign Policy in a Constructed World. New York: M.E. Sharpe, pp. 38–55.
Smith, S. (2003) Dialogue and the reinforcement of orthodoxy in international relations. International Studies Review 5 (1): 141–143.
Steele, B.J. (2007) Liberal-idealism: A constructivist critique. International Studies Review 9 (1): 23–52.
Sterling-Folker, J. (2000) Competing paradigms or birds of a feather? Constructivism and neoliberal institutionalism compared. International Studies Quarterly 44 (March): 97–119.
Sterling-Folker, J. (2002a) Realism and the constructivist challenge: Rejecting, reconstructing, or rereading. International Studies Review 4 (1): 73–97.
Sterling-Folker, J. (2002b) Theories of International Cooperation and the Primacy of Anarchy: Explaining U.S. International Monetary Policy-Making after Bretton Woods. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Sterling-Folker, J. (2004) Realist-constructivism and morality. International Studies Review 6: 341–343.
Teti, A. (2007) Bridging the gap: International relations, Middle East studies and the disciplinary politics of the area studies controversy. European Journal of International Relations 13 (1): 117–145.
Uebel, T.E. (1992) Overcoming Logical Positivism from Within: The Emergence of Neurath's Naturalism in the Vienna Circle's Protocol Sentence Debate. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Editions Rodopi.
Varela, C.R. and Harré, R. (1996) Conflicting varieties of realism: Causal powers and the problems of social structure. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 26 (3): 313–325.
Waever, O. (1998) The sociology of a not so international discipline: American and European developments in international relations. International Organization 52 (4): 687–727.
Walker, R.B.J. (1993) Inside/Outside: International Relations as Political Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wendt, A. (1987) The agent-structure problem in international relations theory. International Organization 41 (3): 335–370.
Wendt, A. (1992) Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. International Organization 46 (2): 391–425.
Wendt, A. (1999) Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Widmaier, W.W. (2004) Theory as a factor and the theorist as an actor: The ‘Pragmatist Constructivist’ lessons of John Dewey and John Kenneth Galbraith. International Studies Review 6: 427–445.
Zehfuss, M. (2001) Constructivism and identity: A dangerous liaison. European Journal of International Relations 7 (3): 315–348.
Acknowledgements
We thank Jozef Bátora, Theo Farrell, Yale Ferguson, Stefano Guzzini, Audie Klotz and Cecelia Lynch and three anonymous reviewers and the editors for comments on earlier drafts. Financial support from the Czech Academy of Science (grant number KJB708140803) is gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hynek, N., Teti, A. Saving identity from postmodernism? The normalization of constructivism in International Relations. Contemp Polit Theory 9, 171–199 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2008.49
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2008.49