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Post-Positivism movements including Critical theory, Feminism, Post-colonialism, Poststructuralism and Postmodernism

ALTERNATIVE/ SOCIAL APPROACHES of IR theory

Background
 Realist+liberals=Chilling (18th+19th centuries)
 1990 social sciences became influential in IR
 Human behavior + decision making
 Argues not merely rational choices exist in world politics
 Rationalists blind us from values and norms of international politics

Critique of rationalism:
 emerged as a reaction to the methodology led by Positivists and rationalists i.e. Realists+Liberals.
 Rationalism blind us from importance of norms & values
 Both theories claim that decision making is rational
 Sociology and anthropology show different
 We are part of social systems which has inevitable effects on our decision making

Philosophical Background
1. Hegel: Geist moves through human history changing our outlook on things
2. Marx: What we think comes out of the social conditions we are in
3. Nietzsche: we are all herd animals that forgot about our origins (even truth come out of social conventions)
 Logic of Consequences (Rational actor model); i.e preferences + weighting (advantages & disadvantages) + Decision
 Logic of Appropriateness:
 We don’t calculate moves
 Just follow expectations
 Often without thinking
 Non-rational most of the time
 Rationality is more often than rationalists do think.
Agent Structure Problem:

Weber: actors are free, individual agents Bottom-up

Durkheim: actors are socialized into social systems Top-down

Giddens: (Structuration) its not bottom-up or top-down but BOTH i.e.

“Who we are come from social structure + our actions effect that structure” its continuous dynamism

From levels to agent structure circle

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POSTMODERNISM: Some scholars have argued that Postmodernism does not have anything significant to contribute
to the theorization of International Relations. Not only that, it also leads IR theory into “chaos”. Essentially by its core it says
nothing about IR per se. However, it’s lessons provide powerful insight into worlds of IR.

 Post modernism says that no modernity exists , no truth exists at all in the society , as modernity is the
objectivity , post modernity says that no modernity exists so post modernism says that there is no objective
knowledge , objective knowledge dose not exists according to post modernism ,
 Postmodernism effectively provides many different ways of explaining and understanding systems of world
politics.
 Postmodernism can be described as a challenge to the prevailing modernity project.
 It focuses on counter-hegemonic-theories and explains how conclusions perceived as rational only work
within certain parameters. Postmodernists criticize the statement proposed by Positivism and Rationalism
that power and knowledge are irrelevant.
 They present the Power-Knowledge relationship to let us understand that power in fact produces knowledge
and they also propose the idea that there is no existence of absolute truth, there is always more than one truth
existing in an event.
 Postmodernism also teaches us to employ techniques such as deconstruction and double reading to
deconstruct texts and re-consider concepts that are seemingly natural and a matter of course. e.g With regard
to the war in Iraq, Postmodernists prefer to portray a wide array of descriptions and explanations than providing just one
as the “truth”.
 With the world understood as a text, it is important that the textual interplay behind power politics is clearly
seen and that we realize that all the references to this text are interpretive.
Politicians always provide a reason for the war in Iraq such as “It is about democracy and freedom” or “It is about the
abundant oil”. Postmodernists do not believe in the existence of only one truth behind the war and try to utilize genealogy,
deconstruction and double reading to deeply analyze the text and explore the multiplicity of reasons.

1. DOUBLE READING

 Genealogy of knowledge is the methodology of post modernism Word through which you construct the reality
are essentially fragile, dependable and superficial, Knowledge is the text (in words form) so study of text is the
bases of post modernism, Words are not absolute, words are contextual (there meaning can be different in
different context),
 Communication of knowledge is by the words which are fragile and contextual and hence not absolute , you
will double read the words and that will be the genealogy of the knowledge that will arise after double reading
in three major forms,
1. Insertion
2, suppression
3, contradiction
so double reading is the first process , go to the origin and by double reading the text analyze or separate from
it insertion ,suppression and contradiction

2. DECONSTRUCTION

deconstruct the word from its origin, everybody has its own conception, biased interpretation that is based on
their own point of view or understanding, so no
fact be taken true as it is based on the perception of someone, it is based on how they perceive to define the
facts, so deconstruct the word from its origin, (world system is complex, precise description
is impossible, deconstruct the textual facts from their origin)

CONCLUSION: overall post-modernist theories say that modernity theories which base itself on objective knowledge
are no more applicable or no more can give better understanding of the IR or international world. The post-modernist
theories have their basis on subjectivity of knowledge and searches for meaning in language and communication
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Obviously, Postmodernism plays an important role in the theorization of IR especially since economic structures,
media, political and diplomatic systems have evolved into completely different forms from what they used to be, and
they can no longer be easily analyzed by traditional IR theories.

CONSTRUCTIVISM; is the claim that

significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially constructed, rather than inevitable
consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics.
or
“Instead of pursuit of material interests, its a nation’s belief system, historical, cultural and social aspects that determines
its foreign policy and political behavior.”
Its might be best describe as an approach rather than a theory in IR. By its core Constructivism says nothing about IR
per se. However, its lessons about the nature of norms, identity, and social interactions can provide powerful insights
into the world of IR. Major features of constructivism:

 Heavily drawn on Identity Principle to explain international behaviors

 Social construction: Essence of constructivism is the interaction of people (or states)
 Multiple logics of anarchy: ideas and “norms” (Values) have power.
 Highlights the importance of values and shared interests between individuals.
 Relationship between structures and agents
 Critique of materialism: Such a core realist’s concept as "power politics" is socially constructed—that is, not given
by nature and hence, capable of being transformed by human practice. Wendt (1992)
“500 British nuclear weapons are less threatening to the United States than 5 North Korean Nuclear weapons”
(Alexander Wendt).
Similerly ● institutions of slavery and war, ● Sovereignty, ● human rights, ● concepts of selfishness , ● liberalism
all are mere ideational constructs ( constructed ideas by behavior or Social Facts) that depend on human
agreement for their existence ,therefore these ideas can be changed

IAN HURD’s distinguishing points of constructivism

1. An alternative to materialism:
o People act toward other objects, including other actors, on the basis of meanings that the objects have for
them.
o Constructivism suggests that material forces must be understood through the social concepts that define their
meaning for human life.
o Beliefs, expectations, and interpretations are crucial when thinking about international affairs.
2. Construction of State Interests:
o Focus on the social content involved in the production of international relations
o Historical construction of “national interests” i.e constructivists are interested in how states come to hold the
interests that structure their decision-making.
o There is a focus on the social aspects of interests formation
3. Mutual Constitution of Structures and Agents:
o Structures are the institutions and shared meanings that make up the context of international action and
agents are any entities that operate as an actor within that context.
o The actions of states contribute to making the institutions and norms of international life, and these
institutions contribute to defining, socializing, and influencing states.
o International norms are simultaneously the products of state actions and influences upon state action. Thus,
the idea that states and the international environment are mutually constituted is inherent in the constructivist
approach.
4. Multiple Logics of Anarchy:
o Example of rivalry
o An anarchy of friends differs from one of enemies.
1. Different types of constructivism
1. Social constructivism. We are influenced by the collective conceptions (ideas) of the world politics that are
reinforced by the social pressures from the reference groups to which we belong. So reference groups from which we
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belong in social pressure group reinforce and create our conceptions of the world politics so shared ideas are making
human associations rather than material forces (realism) or material capabilities (liberalism). In social constructivism
collective identity formation is emphasized

2. Agent oriented constructivism .it takes different approach from first type; it emphasizes individualist influences on
the identities, so domestic identities of actors are important or crucial for their perceptions about each other in
international arena, so actor or agent can hold both internal identity (at home or in own country)or external identity(
at international community) which are shaped respectively by dialogue at home and within the international
community, Mikhail Gorbecheve ‘s new thinking lead totally changed policy by Russia toward the America , so a new
leaders thinking led to new norms a perfect example of agent oriented constructivism,
2. Controversies within constructivism
 State-centrism
Actors and structures at all levels of analyses are socially constructed.
 Science and positivism
Positivist epistemology maintains that the socially constructed international system contains patterns that are
amenable to generalization and to falsifiable hypotheses.
A competing view represented by postpositivists, is that in social life are not fully objectifiable, observers cannot
be fully autonomous of the subject under study, and social relationships can be separated into discrete “causes”
and “effects”.
 Anarchy or Authority?
Most constructivists operated within what Ashley (1988) called the “anarchy problematique”. This view
acknowledges the existence of a formal condition of anarchy among states and makes anarchy a crucial element
of the international structure. It sees hierarchy as the alternative to anarchy, where hierarchy refers to a system,
in which “the units stand vis-à-vis each other in relations of super- and subordination” (Waltz 1979, 81).
 How constructivists see the world?
International power game revolves around the actors abilities, through debate about values and ability to
convince others to accept their ideas so people become powerful when they become able to convert their ideas
and able their ideas to convert them successfully as they as they advocate , and then a shared knowledge culture
emerges, so in short shared understandings or conceptions of moral and legal norms can change the world So when
construction of international realities change it alter the world,
 Limitations of constructivism
1. factors are important which drive or change behavior rather than thinking , ideas in the future will be rejected
by future generations as because they would live under different environment and different condition and
they will hence think differently and reject the ideas in which constructivists believe all in all,
2. shared identities cannot remain constant they change over time , critics say that constructivism fails to explain
that why and when these predetermined shared identities change,
3. constructivists did not deal with the issues of uncertainty ,
4. it lacks the methodology, constructivism lacks any methodological approach to study the world politics with
the constructivism.
3. Continuing challenges
 Strategic behavior and norms
It is a mistake to separate the study of the logic of consequences from the logic of appropriateness.
Constructivism adds two things: an interest in explaining how state needs and interests come to be, and the
possibility that different constructions of states could lead to radically different types of states and patterns of
state behavior.
 Constructivism and rationalism
Strategic behavior and international norms are often presented as competitors to each other.2 versions:
a. One suggests that rationalism and constructivism predict different behavior from states and these
differences should be measurable and testable.
b. Second version of the competitive relation argues that rationalism and constructivism based on
ontological commitments that are irreconcilable.
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FEMINISM
The true meanings of feminism is that: to use your strong womanly image to
gain strong results in the society. Pamela Anderson

Feminism emerged as a movement and body of ideas that aimed to enhance women’s status and power. Simply put,
feminism affirms women’s political, social, and economic equality with men, and rejects patriarchy.

Introduced gender as a relevant empirical category and analytical tool for understanding global power relations as
well as a normative position from which to consider alternative world orders.
The development of Feminism in IR Theory:
First wave of feminism: Feminist movement finds its roots in the abolitionist movement in 1830s.
Second wave of feminism: suffrage movement. Late 19th to early 20th c.
Third wave of feminism: equal legal rights and political participation. Mid to late 20th century.
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