Presented by Yu Seunghee & Zhang Luan Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist and constructivist approaches to international by Steve Smith Presented by Yu Seunghee & Zhang Luan

Introduction to International Relations Main contents Explanatory/constitutive theories Foundational/anti-foundational theories Reflectivist theories: Normative theory Feminist theory Critical theory Historical sociology Post-modernism Social Constructivism

Introduction Introduction Realism, liberalism and structuralism were dominant theories for the last 50 years. The inter-paradigm debate has been influential in thinking about international relations. Two changes in the last decade a major debate : neo-neo debate the appearance of a range of new approaches

Introduction Reasons for the rise of new approaches the end of the cold war globalizaion major developments underway in other academic disciplines (Positivism has been undermined by developments in the social sciences and philosophy) neo-liberal institutionalism

Foundational/anti-foundational theories Introduction Two distinctions in international theory Explanatory/constitutive theories Foundational/anti-foundational theories

Explanatory/constitutive theories Explanatory theories Constitutive theories The world as something external to our theories of it Our theories help construct the world it the social world as the natural world our language and concepts as helping create the reality

Foundational/anti-foundational theories Foundational theory Anti - foundational theory All truth claims can be judged true or false True claims cannot be judged neo-neo debate historical sociology critical theory post-modernism some feminist theory much normative theory

The current theoretical situation Since the late 1980s, the new approaches have tended to question positivistic assumptions. Yosef Lapid(1989) has termed this ‘a post-positivist era’. The resulting map of international theory has three main features. rationalism : neo-neo debate reflectivism social constructivism

The current theoretical situation International theory in the late 1990s Rationalism Neo-realism Neo-liberalism Reflectivism Post-modernism Feminist theory Normative theory Critical theory Historical sociology Social constructivism

Two important points of Reflectivist theories Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Two important points of Reflectivist theories 1. Most of reflectivist theories are radical, alternative, post-positivist. Use the reflectivist only to differentiate from the “rationalist” 2. Reflectivist approaches differ from one other, but they share a rejection of the core assumption rationalist theories.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Normative theory Normative theory is out of date because of dominance of the positivism. Chris Brown : set up the two main points of world politics, cosmopolitanism and communitarianism. - Cosmopolitanism should concentrate on humanity as a whole and on individuals. - Communitariantism maintains that the appropriate focus is the political community.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Normative theory Chris Brown examined the three main focus points of normative international theory : the state autonomy, the ethics of the inter-state violence, and the international justice. In the last few years, normative paid more attention to the question about the foreign policy.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Feminist theory Four main different feminist theory: liberal, Marxist/socialist, post-modern, and standpoint feminisms. Liberal feminism looked that women are excluded from power and from playing a role in political activities. They want the same rights and opportunities that are available to men.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Feminist theory For Marxist/socialist feminists, the cause of women’s inequality is to be found in the capitalist system. Socialist thought the capitalism and patriarchy are the oppressor of women. Post-modernist feminists are concerned with gender as opposed to the position of women as such.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Feminist theory Standpoint feminists try to develop a female version of reality. Tickner redescribed the six objective principles of international politics of Han Morgenthau.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Critical theory Critical theory is the development out of Marxist thought from 1920s. Jurgen Habermas, Max Horkheimer, Robert Cox are the key scholars of the critical theory. There are many other contributions of critical theory: Linklater, critical security studies.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Historical sociology Historical sociology central focus is that how societies develop the forms that they do . Contemporary historical sociology is a study of the interactions between states, classes, capitalism, and war. Charles Tilly, Michael Mann are the key scholars of historical sociology. IEMP model (Ideological, Economics, Military and political power) Historical sociology and the neo-realism have many points in common.

Introduction to International Relations Reflectivist theories Post-modernism Post-modern approaches are too theoretical and not enough concerned with the real world. The post-modernists think that in the social world there is no such thing as the real world.

Social Constructivism Bridging the gap? “My objective in this article is to built a bridge between two traditions (rationalism and reflectivism) … by developing a constructivist argument … ” (Wendt, 1992) Alexander Wendt

Social Constructivism There are several important objections to Wendt’s argument and his account is really much more traditional and rationalist than at first seems to be the case. But many think that he does manage to bring the two approaches together.

Introduction to International Relations Social Constructivism Social constructivism offers the prospect of a via media(中庸). It represents a synthesis between rationalism and reflectivism. Is the social constructivism is the middle way between the rationalism and reflectivism, or the view of how to construct different knowledge? The answer will depend on how you see the social world and what kinds of features of world politics matter.

Introduction to International Relations Conclusion Conclusion The main contents : alternatives to the dominant rationalist of the international theory from the reflectivist theories to social constructivism. Reflectivist theories are different, put them together only because they are all rejecting the central concerns of rationalism, but they do not to add up to one theoretical position. So the prospect of a rationalist-reflectivist debate is very low.

Theories of World politics Introduction to International Relations Conclusion Theories of World politics Which theory do you think explain world politics most effectively? World politics is very complex and there are a variety of theories that try and account for different parts of that complexity. Which theory paints the picture captures the most salient features of world politics?

감사합니다! 谢谢！ from 승희 & 张峦