Original citation

Stop and reread the subsection ‘Social constructivism’ on 
pp.5–6 of the Introduction
The role of ideas in bringing the Cold War to an end has been championed 
by a group of thinkers whom we first read about in Chapter 1 and will 
discuss in more detail in Chapter 6: the Constructivists. As an influential 
school of thought in IR, Constructivism has its roots in the events that 
took place between 1989 and 1991. Constructivists accuse Realists of 
having neither a theory of historical change nor any understanding of the 
active role played by ideas in bringing about the end of the Cold War – in 
other words of material determinism. Each is certainly a powerful way 
of attacking Realism, echoing the concerns of other critical theories within 
IR. Constructivists in particular argue that because of Realists’ theoretical 
attachment to Cold War bipolarity, they were ill-equipped to explain, let 
alone predict, its unravelling. Consequently, Constructivists argue that 
Realists became mere onlookers with nothing of importance to say about 
the end of the Cold War.
Such attacks on Realism have continued from a variety of quarters ever 
since, with one after another being published in a series of influential 
articles and books which appeared from the early 1990s. These have 
gradually worn away the once impregnable Realist edifice. In fact, 
so successful have these attacks been that even though Realism has 
retained many important followers, Constructivism and other alternative 
conceptions of the international have now established themselves as 
intellectually powerful currents within the discipline. By the end of the 
1990s, it would be fair to say that Constructivism, alongside Liberalism 
and Realism, become one of the subject’s more influential theoretical 
approaches.

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Chapter 3: The end of the Cold War
45
Activity
Different theories are intended to answer different sorts of questions. Use the table 
below to think about the sorts of questions that Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism, 
and the English School are best suited to answer in relation to the end of the Cold 
War.