POLI 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Security Dilemma, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes
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Notes taken by Matthew Coyte
Political Science 205
International Relations Study Notes
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Notes taken by Matthew Coyte
4.1 Social Construction of International Relations
What is constructivism?
• Sociological approach. How groups behave towards each other and how they identify
themselves and why
• The world is not competitive, all depends on relationship between actors. Different states,
different level of cooperation. State of the world is not a given because of anarchy.
Permissive structure. Makes conflict possible, but doesn’t make it not possible,
• The system can change. Doesn’t mean it’s easy.
• Creates structures of meaning. Everything is most probably constructed by you acting
through it. Socially constructed. Institutions mean nothing until actors give them
meaning. Relationships define.
• RECAP:
• a) realism: anarchy leads to self-help and power competitions. Anarchy and units
don’t change. Distribution capabilities can change: polarity. b) neoliberal
institutionalism: egoist utility maximizers can overstep collective. Change in
behaviour through iteration and levels of information. What structures interaction
doesn’t change. Rules of the game are fixed
• Social interaction forms identities. Identity is contextual. Reality is socially constructed.
Identities and interests are socially constructed and have intersubjective meaning. Alter-
Ego island story, the moral is, the relationship defines the actor.
• Money has a shared meaning, but has no worth outside of the worth we give it, and
through our interaction.
• The Agent-Structure debate: Structure is prior to relationship. (we forget that they exist).
They become so imbedded that they are forgotten. Conundrum: social actors create their
own social reality, but reality has a constraining effect of actors. May not have create
social structure, but co-opted in abiding by it. Structures change with repeated
interactions. We assume that the structures come before the actors.
• Karl Marx “People make history but not in conditions of their own choosing.”
• Constructivism: Change is possible, but very difficult.
Self-Help and Sovereignty as Institutions
• Alex Wendt - Anarchy is permissive, and not rigid. Differs from realists, who believe that
anarchy is rigid. Behaviour within it are not determined. Self-help is not contingent on
anarchy, but rather on relationships.
• Sovereignty did not exist as we know it before Westphalia. It became a structure.
• UN is built on this premise.
• Interests of a realist state: security, survival. Interests of neoliberal institutionalist:
utility, egoist maximizers. Interest of constructivist: identity, who you are determines
what you want.
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Notes taken by Matthew Coyte
Cultures of Anarchy
• Three cultures of anarchy, different interests, different patterns of behaviour
• Hobbesian: The natural state of humans. Dog eat dog world. Life without govt is brutal
and short. Security dilemma will be heightened. Incentives to defect are huge. India v
Pakistan
• Lockean: Mostly competitive. Sovereignty exists and states care about it. Possession of
private property creates possibility of various exchange with others. When property is
threatened, then conflict. US v China economically. Rival states. No incentive to attack.
• Kantian: Evolution of international life will be a cosmopolitan life, everyone will be able
to cooperate. High level of trust in communities. EU, common market. Build on trust.
Built on cooperation. Assumption of other states is friendly. Canada v. USA. European
Union. Similar institutional culture.
So, what is Constructivism?
• It is the study of ideas and how they create structures of meaning and their effect on
international outcomes. Ask HOW instead of WHY. How did relationships change and
develop over time?
4.2 Norm in International Relations
What are the norms?
• How are ideas and norms formed? How are they reproduced?
• How actors become socialized into communities that accepts norms
• What is the link to international law?
• A standard of appropriate behaviour for actors with a given identity. Norms are
contextual. Depends on the actors involved. Embodies a moral assessment. Actions
within are all based on the logic of consequence. Acting out of fear of consequences, by
rational actors who want to survive. Appropriateness vs Consequences.
• Norms constrain behaviour, and define what that acceptable behaviour entails. Norms are
enforced socially, not usually legally, until they become law. They are not concrete and
are difficult to observe, except when they are broken.
Types of Norms
• Constitutive: sovereignty. Creates the state. Rule of law. Makes the state what it is
• Procedural: how should actors engage with each other in iterated behaviour.ie shaking
hands. Not written as law.
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Document Summary
How groups behave towards each other and how they identify themselves and why: the world is not competitive, all depends on relationship between actors. State of the world is not a given because of anarchy. Makes conflict possible, but doesn"t make it not possible: the system can change. Doesn"t mean it"s easy: creates structures of meaning. Everything is most probably constructed by you acting through it. Institutions mean nothing until actors give them meaning. Relationships define: recap, a) realism: anarchy leads to self-help and power competitions. Distribution capabilities can change: polarity. b) neoliberal institutionalism: egoist utility maximizers can overstep collective. Change in behaviour through iteration and levels of information. Rules of the game are fixed: social interaction forms identities. Identities and interests are socially constructed and have intersubjective meaning. They become so imbedded that they are forgotten. Conundrum: social actors create their own social reality, but reality has a constraining effect of actors.
