that people actively construct or make their own knowledge, and that reality is determined by your experiences as a learner. Constructivism is the • Basically, learners use their theory that says learners previous knowledge as a construct knowledge foundation and build on it with new rather than just things that they learn. passively take in • So everyone's individual information. experiences make their learning unique to them. • Constructivism is used as a label for an important movement in art history. • Constructivism in the social sciences refers to a distinctive approach to theory and research that is opposed to the dominant empiricist, naturalist, and realist frameworks of mainstream social thought. • The general claims : (1) the ontological thesis that what appears to be "natural" is in reality an effect of social processes and practices; (2) the epistemological thesis that knowledge of social phenomena is itself socially produced; and (3) the methodological thesis that the investigation of the social construction of reality must take priority over all other methodic procedures. Real, What makes something real? • The things we experience in this world are constructs. • We understand, experience and interpret things through the lens of our opinions. • Social Constructivism/constructionism suggests that the knowledge and various other aspects of the world around us are not real in itself. • They exist because we attribute reality to them through social agreement. • Nation, money, chair, books. • Self is also a social construction –our identity is created through our interactions with other people and our reactions to the expectations of the society. Social constructivism in IR • Not a theory but a modifier to an existing theory- an enhancer • Offers an account of politics of identity • Like liberalism it operates within ideology • It proposes how nationalism, ethnicity, race, gender and religion are involved in global politics • Identities explain how states interact with each other: Identifiable variables • Ally, enemy, neutral, belligerent, fascist, terrorist Perceptions Perceptions Perceptions Perceptions formed the way we engage with States
Foreign Policy is shaped by
perceptions
Realism says State, State and,
State
State has identity
• Saddam Hussein: Arab vs. West • Domestic Politics into IR • Historical subjectivity matters rather than realism’s argument that State is a State debate • Constructivism allows States to be different things at the same time • Gradual evolution is foreign policy is allowed on the basis of trust and cooperation that one State develops with other States • Realism is a natural/default setting
• When you work towards cooperation and trust liberalism emerges
• Anarchy is an imagination-----Anarchy is an imagined community-- It does not exist.
• Anarchy is what states make out of it… It is not given
• For Realists---- anarchy is not chaos but simply uncertainty • For Liberalists----anarchy is absence of cooperation • Constructivists ----Anarchy is what you want it to be • Balance of Power and balance of threat
• Security Dilemma
• Pacific Union- Likeminded states will bind together
• US Allies with Pro-American regime may not be pro-democratic regime
• Like-mindedness matters ------- Orientation does not matter
• Foreign Policy is determined by perception • For United States----
• Democratic Peace Theory ………………….?
• Security Dilemma……………………….? • Balance of Power…………………? • Balance of Threat……………..? • Hybridization of realism and liberalism----------Wilsonian Realism