International Relations Today, IR 101 Episode 3: Constructivism
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- Hi!
Welcome back to the King's College London International Relations Today UA-cam channel. Today's video is the third in our IR 101 series in which we discuss the basics and foundations of International Relations. In this episode we have invited Sebastian Beyenburg (2nd year King's IR student and IR Today staff writer) to teach us the foundations of another school of thought in IR, constructivism. We hope you enjoy the video and learn a little more about international relations!
International Relations Today is a multimedia platform opening up the world of publishing to undergraduates interested in voicing their thoughts and opinions about the questions which make the world go around. We focus on international relations and are made up of an all undergraduate in-house editing team based in the corridors of the War Studies Department at King’s College London.
In the video: Sebastian Beyenburg (IR Today Staff Writer)
Filmed and edited by: Anna Huang (IR Today Digital Media Editor)
Check out our website for more details: irtodayblog.wordpress.com/ and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin!
These are the notes that I took during the video, maybe they help somebody:
- Concerned with the role of identities and social practices in the international system
- Coined by Nicholas Ofman, breakthrough of the theory usually associated with the sudden end of the Cold War, which could not be explained by either realism or liberalism
- Starting point of the theory : IR = social construct that has the potential to change
- Argument: there is nothing natural/ given in social practices
- They analyse these social practices by studying the nature of reality = the study of ontology
- Example by Nicholas Wheeler: we can think of constructivism as we think of money, when we stop assigning any meaning to either one of those, they have no meaning in themselves, they lose their significance.
- Constructivism does not see states as rational egoist actors in IR
- Constructivism does not reduce states to their material level/ material interests that states may have
- State as the central actor in IR
-Identities shape how states think about their interests
-Normative/ idealist preferences are just as important, if not even more important than the material level
-Identities give actors interests, and those interests tell actors how to behave/interact
-Anarchy is what states make of it, it is not the given unchanging state in IR as L or R would say (Alexander Wendt)
-Anarchy can be interpreted in different ways, depending on the meaning that the actors ascribe it to it
-For Wendt, the structure of anarchy is not given but constituted of mutual agreements and of norms and rules = -because we have come to believe that we live in an anarchic system, we act accordingly
-Given this, there can be two types of relations between states
-First type: amity
-Second type: enmity
-These types offer states the possibilities to act within a whole range of possibilities
-Example: While US and USSR cooperated together to defeat the axis of power during WWII, this relation has changed as soon as there was no more common enemy to fight against. So: amity -> enmity -> Cold War
-Main debates/ streams of the theory:
-Conventional constructivism
-What? - type questions
-Tends to accept key aspects of neorealist thinking (e.g. the centrality of state in IR)
-Assumes that states in IR act according to their identity and therefore it is possible to predict their future behaviour by looking at their identity
-When identity changes, they investigate why that change took place
-Critical constructivism
-How? -type questions (How did a state come to believe in that certain identity?)
-Main interest: what component parts make up a state’s identity; they question language, discourse, and the reality of meaning
-Believes that an actor’s identity is created through spoken/written communication
-Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault
How can we apply this theory to the current issue of the US-China Trade war
OMG THANKS, this helped me alottt!
THANK YOU!!!
@@malwandebongekile2842 you have to use international trade branch of economics to expl
you are an angel!
Wow just better than the whole past year at university studying ir theories and getting nothing
This was super clear and it really helped a lot!! Thanks IR Today! :)
P
Thank you so much for what you have done for IR students! Like your calm voice and clear logic. BRAVO!!!
I love how you provide clarification on the classification of Constructivism understanding in IR, most of other UA-cam videos about the theory didn't touch it. keep it up! very helpful to other IR enthusiast
Is this an accurate summation of the three IR paradigms? Realism - only the state matters and every state operates under the premise of self interests. They also assume all the other states operate under the same premise. States are in a constant state of anarchy because there are no global police officers to appeal to with regard to international relations.
Liberalism - Operates under the ideal of Globalism and interdependence. While the states matter, they look more to international organizations like UN, IMF etc. They looked to interaction and interdependency as a way to prevent future world wars. Liberalism’s globalist organizations are a place for states to appeal to for international solutions and therefore a cure for the constant anarchy.
Constructivism - sees the states as the central actor on the international system but it subscribes to the idea that the rules can be changed at any time by societal agreement. Like realism, Constructivism believes the state is in constant anarchy but anarchy is what each state makes of it, meaning, multiple states manage the anarchy between one another by developing mutually beneficial agreements.
bruh im only 2 mins into the video and i know its golden, im doing a thesis on one piece about international relations, and this is gonna help me lots, thank you for uploading this, im going to use the info from this to explain constructivism.
Thank you very much sebastian my interest in constructivism has definitely been peaked! You explain with clarity and conviction
This was so much on point with a presence of super clarity!
Such videos on Critical theory, Modernism, Post-modernism, Functionalism and Structuralism (all from the grounds of IR) would be of immense help!
Thank you! :)
I love the examples and how they explain in such an easy way. I’m not a native English speaker and I’ve been able to understand everything. Thank you guys for the hard work!! 🧡🧡
Wow what a powerful example when explaining amity and enmity amongst countries . That was a good one .
I'm watching this video because the lecturer at my university does a horrible job explaining constructivism. I did not understand one thing by watching his 21 minute video. This 11 minute video helped me understand constructivism. Thanks for posting!
Why this channel is not posting more videos 😭😭
RIGHT I NEED THEM TO START POSTING AGAIN
This was really clear and helpful, thank you!! I think my mark for this essay might come down to your explanation having saved me..
You have provided an amazing explanation. Thanks, IR Today and Sebastian!
GREAT vid Sebastian! This was an excellent breakdown of Constructivism. My senior seminar research question started "What factors under..."; it would seem I am a Conventional Constructivist!
Thank you Seb, you touched up major points very intelligently :)
Thank u sir. U have made the topic quite easy. Keep it up and upload lecture on conventional theories of IR
Would you consider to go on a date?
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I'm writing a paper on the Rohingya genocide using constructivist theory and realism and this video helped so much so thank you !!!!!!
thanks dear............that was very sucinct and shophisticated input on Constructivism
You have wonderfully explained ...im from pakistan really helpfull ..will be waiting for further videos..
ohhhhh Sebatiannn, you are so cute, I loved your smiling! thank you for the explanation
Yeah I got kinda distracted from what he was saying by how cute he is lol
Really helpful for my essay on constructivism, thank you!!
I really need this, thank you!!!!!
Thank so much - this was brilliant
Please start adding information in presentation slides or a PDF link below... that'd really help
Super awesome...please make more videos on IR concepts and its scope..
Thank you! It was very helpful
it was very clear and helpful! thanks
thanks for such an amazing and informative video seb!
thanku ,this helped me for my internals
Man this is my first time that I watched one of your videos, Currently I am stuyding IR and I'd be great to me to listen you if you have podcast on Spotify or something like that
Now, back to my essay, which i have not started and i have about... 5 hours to make. Thanks.
oh I need him to teach me constructivism practically
Thank you....
It’s great contribution to assist
Thanks a lot❤️
thank you so much
Your great men thanks for lecture
Thank you:)
i loveeeed it
Thank you,
Please could you explain in details Critical Constructivism, I really need it ?
Thank you
Could you make some videos about philosophy in IR? It confuses me a lot
Another important author: Ted Hopf and his article "the promise od constructivism in IR theory"
Is there any sources where it is possible to read further about the tenets and the two branches?
thankk youuuu
Good Job,,
So when does international relations start considering domestic politics? That seems to me the most significant factor in international affairs.
gracias, te amo💌
I always remember "Anarchy is not given"
Informative
God bless
nice :)
Upload more please thanks
Yes.it developed post cold war era
Does a state's identity reflects constructed international norms.
Ideological difference
Short summary from the above video may help you to understand the main crux:
Constructivism is an international relations theory that focuses on the role of identities and social practices in the international system. It argues that states' interests and behavior are shaped by their identities, and that the meaning ascribed to concepts like anarchy or nuclear weapons can vary depending on the relationships between states. Constructivism provides an alternative lens for analyzing international affairs, emphasizing the importance of social interactions and ideas in addition to material factors.
bravo
your viedo was very intersting and rich in knowledge why can't you make more
Pls upload more
i've recently come across the term "constructive realism" ... any comments on this will be very helpful.
how would a constructivism approach deal with covid 19
The meaning we ascribe to objects
but what if we say that the end of the cold war was dictated not by change of identities and beliefs, but by economic struggles that were taking place inside the Soviet Union at the time that were the main factor of change of foreign policy
Great info. Very helpful. What a hottie. 10/10 recommend watching this muted. XD
How can constructivism theory be applied to the US-China trade war
This line of thinking can only really apply to hyper idealist nations like the Third Reich or Stalin's USSR, as the driving logic of these countries was their human (irrational) idealism rather than the objective forces of capital.
Hello sir,Can I find the PDF of the given lecture .I mean constructivism in IR......
I found an ebook that has the same thing he talks about. you can search this on google scholar Stephen, M., Rosie, W., & Shristian, S. (2017). International Relations Theory. E-International Relations, Bristol, England, 15-76
This is my layman view so please take it with a grain of salt. To me it seems constructivism augments and expends in liberalism it that's the concept that institutions, and belief systems can positively regulate an archaic system to the next logical level by including social norms, languages, and view the system itself as a artificial construct therefore malleable.
what does it mean by state identities?
like the values a state holds. a lot of it is cultural
what about social constructivism?
How can I focus on the lesson if he's super hot???
Please provide us PDFs
I think you are very good and help me a lot in school
so handsome
Do you find constructivism a useful approach for thinking about world politics? Why, or why not?
Can't concentrate because He's so cute
How would constructivist explains Russia's actions towards Ukraine?
5:25
ADA GAK YANG VERSI BAHASA INDONESIA.
If there is nothing natural about human practices, then the conventional tools of the natural sciences (e.g., math, scientific method) become irrelevant. Indeed, I question whether one can identify as a Political "Scientist" if one dispenses with the method.
Kindly provide pdf...if you can or anyone among those who have commented in this video
Why does it take more than a month for you guys to make a single video?
Constructivism was not founded by an American it was founded by a European, Swiss psychologist, author and writer Jean Piaget, in 1957. Be careful about ensuring your sources are accurate.
IR constructivism(Wendt) is different from Constructivism in Psychology (Piaget)
similar to how IR liberalism (Kant) is different from political liberalism (locke)
No, money means everting. Money is a representation of life energy spent producing work. to discount this concept is to discount objective reality. It discount the life energy of every individual that has produced something. Sad, just sad.
Yawn fest. Lost me afer 30 seconds. People need to go read the top scholars in their field and learn to think for themselves rather than copying a dude on youtoob. Now go read Wendt as a start