POL208Y1 Lecture Notes - Materialism, Human Science, Andrew Linklater
Document Summary
4 most important contributors to development of constructivism: john ruggie, richard ashley, Structures do more than constrain agents- they construct or constitute their identities and interests. Also argues that an international normative structure shapes the identities and interests of states and through their interactions states re-create that very structure. Generates a more complete understanding of relationship between states (actors) and international system (normative structure) It is committed to idealism and holism and has important implications for how we think about and study world politics. Social facts- things whose existence is dependent on human agreement and are taken for granted but help us shape how we categorize the world and what we do (ie/ money, refugees, terrorism, human rights, and sovereignty) Its prominence emerged since the emergence of the nation-state, which created the fact that most international organizations have a multilateral form.
