Recent Debates about Theories of International Relations and the Emergence of Constructivism

Abstract

This essay deals with the recent development of constructivist approach to international relations (IR) studies since 1990. Its emergency represents a new trend and upshot of theoretical debates among IR scholars of the last three decades. Against the mainstream of a theories the constructivists emphasize that the actors of IR are not only nation-states, but include non-governmental organizations and international corporations. It attacks the conventional concept of the international anarchy which has been treated as the lack of controlling power and authority on the world stage and the result of mutual construction of the relevant nation-states. Further, it claims that the interpretative "how" questions of reality should replace the traditional "why" questions of causal explanation. It stresses that the role of international variables, such as beliefs, identities, meaning structures etc., are more relevant to the shaping of international and global economy than the so-called material interest (national interest, security, balance of power, etc.). Last but not least, constructivism presumes that the scholars should be looking for communities of inter-subjectivity in world politics because within which actors share understanding of each other and among themselves, yielding predictable and reliable patterns of action within a specific context and reducing tensions and conflicts to the minimum among the contending nations.