All Things Constructivism
Whereas realists and liberals primarily see power in material terms (military, economic, or political), constructivists see power in...
What is discursive terms—they focus on the power of ideas, culture, and language?
This theory argues that there is overproduction of goods and services in the developed world; underconsumption by workers and lower class because of low wages; and oversavings by the upper classes.
What is Marxism?
War that occurs between two or more states.
This theory argues that democracies have transparent decision-making processes and face
audience costs; commitments to negotiated agreements can be more credible.
What is liberalism?
This mechanism plays a role in enabling a balance of power to sustain peace for neoliberal institutionalist.
What is international institutions?
Alexander Wendt, one of the best-known constructivists, argues that, on its own, the political structure of the international system (that is, whether the distribution of power is unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar) cannot tell us much of interest. Rather, constructivists see these two factors that matter the most.
What is the identities of states and the relationship between their identities, along with the norms that stem from those identities, that matter most?
Theory argues that the international system made of 2 types of states-dominant and dependent.
What is dependency theory?
War that uses unconventional tactics, the effects not limited in space and time, and often times ignores the conventions of war.
What is unconventional wars?
This theory argues that as identities change, state behavior can change and states previously in
conflict can start to cooperate.
What is constructivism?
For constructivists, this plays a role for international cooperation.
or constructivists, the objects of study in international relations should be the identities of...
What are actors, and the norms and practices of individuals and groups that stem from those identities?
Theories from this perspective place primacy on the role of economics in explaining international phenomena.
What is radicalism?
This concept deals with the question of when it is legal to go to war.
What is jus ad bellum?
This theory argues that wars break out because no authority exists to prevent it (as long as there is anarchy, there will be war).
What is realism?
Realists recognize that international cooperation is difficult to achieve. Two key problems contribute to this difficulty—the relative gains problem and what they call the...
What is the prisoner's dilemma problem?
Constructivists argue that it is not only states’ behaviors that are shaped by beliefs about themselves and others, but also states’....
What is state's very interests?
For constructivists, states’ interests are the result of their socially constructed identities. Moreover, those identities and interests are not fixed (they can change as experience, discourse, and practices change).
For Marxism, there are two main economic classes.
What is the bourgeois and proletariat classes?
War that has become more common today and where violence lays within a state.
What is intrastate wars?
Constructivists argue that change can occur through diffusion of ideas or the internationalization of norms, as well as through this process.
What is socialization?
This is created to limit weapons that may be used, and that even limit the testing and development of certain weapons (such as nuclear weapons) in the first place.
What is arms control agreements?
An important part of that social construction of identities (and the resulting behavior) is...
What is discourse?
How we choose to talk about ourselves and others influences our interpretation of our respective identities, as well as others’ interpretations of those identities.
Marxist theories explain the reasons for dominant state expansion (imperialism), while this theory focuses on the consequences of that expansion within the states where it has occurred.
What is dependency theory?
A type of “asymmetric” war – one side has significantly more capabilities than other side.
What is guerrilla war?
A credible threat of use of force in return can
prevent war from being instigated (doesn’t have to be actual use of violence.
What is deterrence theory?
This theory assumes that nuclear weapons—one particularly intense form of harm—pose an unacceptable risk of mutual destruction, and thus decision makers will not initiate armed aggression against a nuclear state.
What is deterrence theory?