Constructivism: Historical Development
Created Time: September 15, 2021 9:20 AM Database: Evergreen Database Last Edited Time: November 22, 2021 7:51 AM References: IRTD-C10 Constructivism Type: Permanent Notes
Constructivism: Historical Development
- There was two social movements that proved useful for Constructivism’s development
- US and Europe Lobbies During the Cold War
- US’s public lobbied the government, instead of street protest, for nuclear disarmament that put pressure on the government.
- In Europe there was loose European Nuclear Disarmament movement in Netherlands, Germany, Italy
- They both helped show that the individual level could also interact and influence the international level as well
- 1980s: there was doubts and challenges to the assumptions of Traditional IR theories on the Cold War
- IR scholars failed to predict or explain the end of the Cold War with their predetermined assumptions (liberalism and realism)
- Therefor the rise of Constructivism as an alterative to explain the world in place of traditional IRTs
- US and Europe Lobbies During the Cold War
- The Four Great Debates in IR pushes the development of International Relations Theories
- Realism showed the weakness and oversights of Liberalism (idealism) after the World Wars
- US’s Behaviouralism scholars wanted to make IR into a science in opposition of the Traditionalism English School
- Post-Positivism debated against the dominant position of scientific methods in the US
- Constructivism explained the new unexpected end of the Cold War