ATS2624 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Global Governance, Peer Pressure

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Global Governance Lecture 5 Week 3 Constructivism
- constructivism - approach rather than theory - social construction
- nothing objective about the world around us or how we understand that world
- international system - is not a fact of nature - has been socially constructed over
time
- gives a recognition of ideational aspect of global governance
- direct challenge to orthodox IR understandings
- no single philosophical basis
- meaning is not a natural fact - something that is socially constructed
- wendt - people act towards objects including other actors on the basis of the
meaning that the objects have for them
- how people understand objects in the world - impacts how they respond to
such objects
- contrast with materialism
- material world understand through the ideas that give it meaning
- intersubjective and open to change - developed by interactions between
different actors
- shared amongst people - meaning is often relatively settled
- ideas have an important influence on state behaviour
- constructing national interests
role of ideas in constructing national interest
identity of states dictates interests
o different identities create different types of national interests
how do states, leaders and other actors conceptualise themselves?
- anarchy
agree with realists and liberals - anarchy is the defining feature of the
international system
anarchy - a result of states seeing each other as rivals and threats - global
governance necessary
anarchy itself does not tell us much about how states will act - states
themselves provides this info
no definition of anarchy from constructivist point of view
anarchy is what states make of it - wendt
different cultures of anarchy
nothing static or fixed about the nature of anarchy - changes over time
- agency vs structure
orthodox Ir - structuralist - structure of international system determines
how states act
early liberals - agency orientated - agents or individuals were free to act
as they wish in the international system - no obstacles to full realisation of
human potential
constructivists - mutual constitution
o tries to find the middle ground
o agents and structures are mutually constituted
o we make up the social contexts in which we exist
o process are shaped by the existing structures that are a result of
prior actions and interactions
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Document Summary

Global governance lecture 5 week 3 constructivism. Constructivism - approach rather than theory - social construction. Nothing objective about the world around us or how we understand that world. International system - is not a fact of nature - has been socially constructed over time. Gives a recognition of ideational aspect of global governance. Meaning is not a natural fact - something that is socially constructed. Wendt - people act towards objects including other actors on the basis of the meaning that the objects have for them. How people understand objects in the world - impacts how they respond to such objects. Material world understand through the ideas that give it meaning. Intersubjective and open to change - developed by interactions between different actors. Shared amongst people - meaning is often relatively settled. Ideas have an important influence on state behaviour.

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