Aguila, Erikka Mykaela E. (ILS1202 – Ms. Dopeño), December 11, 2021.

Why does it seem as though many of the world's issues are intertwined with climate

change? Probably because they are. Being a third world economy, the Philippines is found along

the typhoon belt in the Pacific wherein each year some families are deeply devastated by the ever-

changing climate threats. Even though there are myriad of issues surrounding the country, the

conversation about climate is one of the most urgent actions and addressing. Through different

lenses of international relations theories, constructivism may provide light on areas of global

climate politics that have been overlooked by most common approaches of liberalism and realism

as because it uncovers a symptom of a broken system of injustices. When it comes to the social

theory of constructivism, the link between agents and structures is a major focus.

Initially, in the context of cooperation of global agency for climate action, although there

are several frameworks for environmental law protection, comparing it to other issues,

environmental issues are seen as less important, or ignored (Thomas, 2013). This is because they

are socially constructed.

In a way, the ecological problem is also associated with different encompassing issues of

poverty and development. For instance, poorer communities or even most impoverished nations

are more affected than the wealthier nations or privileged polluters responsible for the

consequences of environmental degradation. From realizing that using reusable straws is not the

solution to the problem that harms aquatic resources and that in fact it doesn’t make a huge

difference, it is upsetting that some people often neglected that these large corporations that they

are supporting should the ones accountable for addressing the problem of waste.
 Lastly, even though the climate problems are a complex issue a common criticism leveled

about constructivism is that it just states the obvious, that people's actions, relationships, and

perceptions influence the reality in which they find themselves. People's thoughts and actions

shape international relations from the bottom up. When applied conceptually, this seemingly

simple principle has tremendous implications for how we see the world.

Thus, the use of constructivism in international relations enables us to confront issues and

concepts that more conventional theories have overlooked or ignored. To a certain extent, the

social constructivist approach sees ideas as structural elements that shape the way people make

sense of the world. Because of this, they demonstrate that reality is not static but rather dynamic.
References

Barnett, M. (2014). Social Constructivism. In The Globalization of World Politics: An introduction

to international relations (6th ed., pp. 156–167). Oxford University Press.

Thomas, L. (2013, June 21). How and why environmental issues are neglected. Yale Environment

Review. https://environment-review.yale.edu/how-and-why-environmental-issues-are-neglected-