Legal Framework for International Business

Constructivism>

I. Theory

Constructivism is an approach to international relations that focuses broadly on the roles that norms, ideas, and culture play in world politics. From a constructivist perspective, these non-material factors are often more important to understanding world politics than material factors, such as how many weapons a state has or the strength of its economy (traditional measures of power for realists). One prominent constructivist, Alexander Wendt, famously said that international politics is about ‘ideas all the way down’. In other words, we cannot understand world politics without understanding the identity and self-understanding of the actors that make up world politics (Wendt 1999). States may not always act out of a concern for raw power and self-interest- they are social entities that can be ‘other-regarding’ and concerned with what is appropriate behavior in world politics. They often make decisions and determine their actions based on the logic of appropriateness (concern with what is socially appropriate) rather than a rationalist logic of consequences (concern with an instrumental outcome). Constructivism thus provides a clear contrast to rationalist approaches to international politics.

States’ priorities might be shaped by their own national identity, which is in turn informed by a unique set of cultural, historical, and institutional traditions. As social actors, states are influenced by international norms that prescribe what is considered to be appropriate and inappropriate behavior. States are concerned with status and world opinion. They care about the definition of what it means to be a ‘good state’ and their decisions to sign on to international legal instruments and to comply with international law is based as much or more on normative concerns regarding the logic of appropriateness as it is on rational concerns of narrow self-interest.
Many social constructivists thus share a number of concerns with IL scholars; however, they use a different language and approach. Whereas international human rights lawyers view states as being embedded in an international legal order of human rights obligations, and focus on the specific institutions, conventions, and treaties that legally oblige states to uphold human rights laws and principles, social constructivists may focus more on the strength of human rights norms more generally, and would examine acceptance and implementation of human rights norms as a social process, rather than simply a legal obligation. Social constructivists also use a different set of terminologies from international legal scholars. While IL scholars are interested in the ‘evolution of international law’, social constructivists are interested in processes of socialization and in the emergence, spread, and deepening of ‘international norms’.