Constructivism

This entry maps out the origins, trajectory, main varieties and theoretical commitments of constructivism in the discipline of International Relations, with emphasis on the premises of consistent constructivism, which is characterised by the complementarity between the social ontology and epistemology of constructivist practice. The entry elucidates the standing preoccupation with meaning and practices of knowledge production, and elaborates on the conceptions of intersubjectivity, agency and reflexivity as core to constructivist theorising. It further describes the incongruity between the perceived impact of constructivism and its promise of fundamentally changing the modes of theorising in the discipline. It uses the controversy over how norms work in international politics to illustrate key misunderstandings and differences across varieties of constructivism, with particular reference to causality. It concludes with a brief review of the legacy of constructivism, its connections to adjacent research programmes and its ambivalent relationship with the practice turn.