International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

Self-study (4) 
Reflect on the practical political implications a social constructivist per-
spective holds for current problems of international politics.
Are theories of IR themselves part of the social construction of reality? 
Step 5:
Check your understanding: Key aspects and review 
questions 
Key aspects 
 
Social constructivist theory
Core question 
• A new systems theory in IR, based on a “new ontol-
ogy”
Assumptions about actors 
and structure 
•
Unobservable structures are real, independent of the 
human mind and legitimate objects of scientific in-
quiry (scientific realism)
•
Social structures are “made of ideas” (constructivist 
ontology, idealism) 
•
Social structures are not reducible to their constitu-
ent elements (ontological holism) 

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Social constructivist theory
“Agency and structure” 
•
No ontological priority of either agency or structure 
•
Ontological interdependence of agency and struc-
ture: Agents and structures are mutually constitutive, 
but ontologically distinct entities
•
Duality of structure: Social structures are constitutive 
for actors and their interests, at the same time actors 
constantly produce and reproduce structure 
•
Actors: Constituted by internal, organizational struc-
tures (“anatomy”) 
•
Actors: Constituted by external social structures 
Type of explanation and 
notion of causality 
•
Questions-driven approach to explanation: Form of 
explanation depends on the type of questions 
•
Constitutive (structural) explanation: How-possible 
and what-questions. Causality as a relation in na-
ture/conceptual necessity
•
Causal (historical) explanation: Why-questions. Cau-
sality as a relation in logic.
•
Epistemological interdependence: Structural and his-
torical explanation to be integrated to “structural-
historical analysis” as a complete form of explanation