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Denmark exhibits of soft form of neoliberalism compared to that of the USA or UK, affecting views of the role of the market in terms of outsourcing security; moreover, Denmark has hard commitments to international humanitarian law which is likely to have tempered direct engagement of PMSCs (2019, pp. Yet, constructivists are beginning to define their enterprise more independently of competing approaches. The UK and the USA are part of NATO, so share alliance membership, but have also stood shoulder to shoulder in conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq in response to global terrorism, which both states understand to be an existential threat to their way of life. Meaning is socially constructed this epistemological claim suggests that depending on ones position and perspective, knowledge and meaning produce different interpretations (Guzzini 2005, p. 498). Compliance studies tend to fall on the side of reasoning about norms, considering how actors react to external norms and attempts at socialization, while contestation studies tend to view actors as reasoning through norms, examining how communities of norm acceptors can alter the meaning of constitutive norms through their bounded interpretations of prevailing norms and actions in line with those interpretations. As Tannenwald says, [e]ven as states pursue their interests, they do so within a normative structure (2017, p. 17). Comprised of a series of conventions that go back to 1864, it is now a part of customary international law, so it applies to all states during warfare. Constructivism has developed over the years and it is now possible to speak of it in terms of generations. The first generation is identified in the 1980s, where constructivism focused on agents and structures. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). This freezing of norms tended to make them independent from politics as variables in political behavior. Birdsall, A. Rationalist critiques relate to constructivist methodology and epistemological claims. 1999; Jacobsen 2003). Focusing on these elements of normative dynamics led to progress in how constructivists understood conformance with normative strictures, the spread of existing norms, and the emergence of new norms. This logic structured seminal empirical work that endeavored to show how ideational and normative factors could explain puzzles in world politics (e.g., Klotz 1995; Finnemore 1996). London: Routledge. Yet this dominant view of international relations was significantly challenged by Alexander Wendt in the early 1990s with the simple premise: anarchy is what states make of it (Wendt 1992, pp. Constructivism argues that culture, social structures and human institutional frameworks matter. The market for ontological security. International Theory, 4(3), 449468. e. In international relations, constructivism is a social theory that asserts that significant aspects of international relations are shaped by ideational factors. Indeed, norms, identity, and ideas are key factors in constructivist theory. In the 1980s and 1990s, efforts to wind back the proliferation of nuclear weapons which by this stage had reached staggering proportions, particularly in the USA and USSR prompted scientists and nuclear experts, civil society organizations, and other actors, to form what is called epistemic communities. (1998). Self-identity and the IR state. In military exercises with other nations, states share practices and ideas and in doing so, learn from each other. But the nuclear issue is also important because it shows how competing ideas about norms co-exist or contrast for example, former US President Donald Trump tried to change the norm around the use of nuclear weapons, arguing for the ability to use low yield nuclear weapons and the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review returned to the idea that nuclear superiority mattered (Tannenwald 2018). Constructivism and the nature of international relations Constructivism efforts to give a better understanding of international relations by its method which is based on social theory. Norms, identity, and their limits: A theoretical reprise. However, when defined as ideas or expectations about appropriate behavior for actors with a given identity (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998:891), it became an ideal conceptual tool for operationalizing processes of social construction. Yet the logic of appropriateness appears to cede the ground of purposeful, goal-oriented behavior to rationalist perspectives (whether it actually cedes this ground is an additional, and crucial question). Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. Like its revision of anarchy as an ordering principle in international relations, constructivism also changed perceptions about the relationship between agents and structures, brought attention to how ideas matter as much as material factors, and how identity, norms, and culture shape global relations. London: Routledge. In this sense, under a constructivist lens, key concepts like sovereignty and power can take on different meanings compared to how they are understood in realist frameworks or defense-oriented establishments. Rather than see security and conflict in the same way, actors will interpret and pursue security based on the ideas, norms, identities, and values that have meaning for them. Social Constructivism, especially after the 1980s, has become a common approach in dealing with and examining different issues in the field of humanities and social sciences. Two types of normative dynamics can be identified: the first is endogenous contestation; the second is compliance or diffusion. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1533385. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Critical methodology and constructivism. General norms must be operationalized or translated into specific actions for specific situations. Steele, B. ), Handbook of military sciences (pp. Rather the controversies mainly focus on how far one can push one logic of action to account for observable practices and which logic dominates a given situation. International Studies Review, 4(1), 4972. Nordic strategic culture. This is particularly relevant to military studies in terms of understanding the strategic culture of specific states: culture can have an important influence on how states see security, how they interpret threat and train and organize their military forces. Anarchy is not a given of the international system. Journal of European Public Policy, 6(5), 721742. Assessing the effects and effectiveness of the Geneva Conventions. To construct something is an act which brings into being a subject or object that otherwise would not exist. Intersubjective facts like social norms only exist within a community of actors that accept them. Recent studies have taken the generic nature of norms more seriously and have subsequently focused on how actors must operationalize their normative context to take specific actions (Hoffmann 2005; Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007; Sandholtz 2008). Whether a state is democratic or autocratic, for example, does not seem to matter for neorealists such as Kenneth Waltz (see Realist International Relations Theory and The Military by Schmidt in this volume), because the anarchic structure is what is important for understanding state behavior. The current literature on compliance with social norms has taken a question that motivated the socialization studies of the 1990s Why do some transnational ideas and norms find greater acceptance in a particular locale than in others? (Acharya 2004:240) in new directions. Is Dewey a social constructivist? On the contrary, the two parts of the norms literature described above tend to find themselves on different ends of the reasoning about normsreasoning through norms spectrum. These dual visions of normative dynamics are likely related, but the norms literature has yet to describe how. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. Sandholtz (2008) himself proposes a cyclical model to explain the evolution of norms prohibiting wartime plunder. European Journal of International Relations, 12(3), 341370. (2) Socialization how an extant norm or a nascent norm from one community diffuses and is internalized by actors outside that community. (2019), and Kessler and Steele (2016) for recent advanced debates.) Handbook of Military Sciences pp 116Cite as, 2 The Athenians demand that neutral Melos side with them against Sparta. Arguments over the different actions feed back and alter the meaning of the original norms. Bjrkdahl, A. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars . The norms (both established and potential) meaning, constitutive properties, and behavioral strictures remain unchanged throughout the analysis (Van Kersbergen and Verbeek 2007). This is a different way to think about and imagine the international realm beyond the narrow confines of rationalist power prescriptions. Cham: Springer. Zehfuss, M. (2002). 451497). Conventional constructivism is not interested in replacing one reality of world politics with another. Countering hybrid warfare as ontological security management: The emerging practices of the EU and NATO. Some constructivists stress reflection and consider that agents are able to reason about the various pulls on their possible behavior (either solely normative/ideational pulls or those in addition to material/strategic pulls). In addition, taking constructivist thought to its logical conclusion, there is no such thing as nonnormative behavior or pure material self-interest independent of a normative context. Hopf, T. (1998). Reuters, 2 July. The superior military capabilities of the USA were a significant material advantage that should have compelled Iraq to avoid invasion. Koschut, S. (2014). While some of the major criticisms of constructivist thought should be at the forefront when considering security and military problems through this lens, the potential to see the world in more dynamic terms is one of constructivisms leading contributions. They were aware of and noted the simplifications being made caveating their work with notations about the fluid and inherently contested nature of norms. Realist international relations theory and the military. The Geneva Convention (1949) is an example of an international regime. It is a social institution with norms, rules, and procedures to govern how civilians and combatants should be treated in war. The use of logic of appropriateness put constructivists in the curious position of having to show that norms, ideas, and identity mattered instead of material interests, which from a constructivist viewpoint is nonsensical. 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