Constitutive Political Theory: Mervyn Frost and the Role of Norms in International Political Theory

Abstract

In the last chapter I provided a critical analysis of the IR constructivist methods of Wendt and Kratochwil, and, in particular, the distinction between the ways in which they treat the relationship between agency and structure. I argued that, in order to overcome the poststructuralist critique of the foundations and sovereign processes of (particularly) neo-Realism, a holistic constructivism which takes seriously the symbiotic link between the discourse practices that constitute justifications for action, and the structures within which that action takes place, is necessary. Kratochwil’s emphasis on the evolution and constitutive role of norms in the formation of international social structures amounts to such a constructivism; it does not proceed from a foundational conception of a distinct realm of social fact, but asserts a truly constructive process whereby action and its justification come to form the discourse which informs those norms required in the constitution of any form of social practice. Crucially, this form of constructivism allows IR to move beyond the posts tructuralist challenge since, in asserting the centrality of agency to the constitution of the subject matter of international politics, a self-reflective methodology may be advanced which does not perpetuate those either/or distinctions which have worked to exclude the viability of international political theory.