Constructing Theoretical Institutions

The other day we looked at how the three various theories we’ve learned interacted. While in class the three points of view contradicted, this conflict is not inevitable. The three ideologies can be used and combined to create a comprehensive worldview.

One of the first things we learned about constructivism is that it does not tell a state what to do. Rather, constructivism can be used to explain the world. It makes very few (if any) normative claims in and of itself. Therefore, anything can be looked at through a constructivist perspective, even if the person is a realist or liberal. However, a few of the basic tenets of the ideologies would have to be tampered with. For example, realism holds that international relations boils down to a battle between self-interested states within an anarchic system. Using constructivism, one would say that this institution of self-interest is not the only possible one. Rather, it is the institution that we are currently in and therefore we can understand other states objectives using realism even as we attempt to construct another one.

Conceivably, a person could try to connect realism and liberalism. One could say that on economic matters we live in a liberal world while in military matters we live in a realist one. However, the contradictions and equivocation that would be involved would be hard to deal with. A better solution would be to combine these two ideologies through constructivism.

Once a person recognizes that the norms, rules, and institutions in the international society are malleable one can make a great number of reasonably leaps. Under constructivism, realism and liberalism can coexist perfectly well because different states may hold different ideologies. If two states use realism to construct their identity then they will interact in self-interested ways. However, if these two states are constructed as liberal, then they will choose actions along a liberal path. Therefore, a state can seek to create whatever kind of international environment they want to; including (but not limited to), liberal institutions, realist institutions, and institutions combining elements from both of them.