The Constructivist Challenge to Structural Realism: a Review Essay Author(S): Dale C
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Review: The Constructivist Challenge to Structural Realism: A Review Essay Author(s): Dale C. Copeland Source: International Security, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 187-212 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2626757 . Accessed: 07/10/2011 01:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Security. http://www.jstor.org The Constructivist Dale C. Copeland Challenge to Structural Realism A Review Essay Alexander Wendt,Social Theoryof International Politics,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999F 1999 Press, For more than a de- cade realism,by mostaccounts the dominant paradigm in internationalrela- tions theory,has been under assault by the emergingparadigm of constructivism.One groupof realists-thestructural (or neo-/systemic)real- istswho drawinspiration from Kenneth Waltz's seminal Theory of International Politics'-hasbeen a particulartarget for constructivist arrows. Such realists contendthat anarchy and thedistribution of relative power drive most of what goes on in worldpolitics. Constructivists counter that structural realism misses whatis oftena moredeterminant factor, namely, the intersubjectively shared ideas thatshape behavior by constituting the identities and interestsof actors. Througha seriesof influentialarticles, Alexander Wendt has providedone ofthe most sophisticated and hard-hittingconstructivist critiques of structural realism.2 Social Theoryof InternationalPolitics provides the firstbook-length statementof his unique brand of constructivism.3 Wendt goes beyond the more Dale C. Copelandis AssociateProfessor in theDepartment of Government and ForeignAffairs, University ofVirginia. He is theauthor of The Originsof Major War (Ithaca,N.Y.: CornellUniversity Press, 2000). For theirvaluable commentson earlierdrafts of this essay,I thankSpencer Bakich,Eric Cox, John Duffield,Kelly Erickson,Mark Haas, JeffreyLegro, Len Schoppa, and Dennis Smith. Portionsof thisessay were drawn from"Integrating Realism and Constructivism,"paper presentedat the an- nual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Massachusetts, September 1998. For insightfulcomments on thatpaper, I thankMichael Barnett,Miriam Fendius Elman, lain Johnston,Andrew Kydd, Randall Schweller,Jennifer Sterling-Folker, and Alexander Wendt. 1. KennethN. Waltz, Theoryof International Politics (New York: Random House, 1979). 2. See, interalia, Alexander Wendt,"The Agent-StructureProblem in InternationalRelations The- ory,"International Organization, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Summer 1987), pp. 335-370; Wendt, "Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Constructionof Power Politics,"International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Spring 1992), pp. 391-425; Wendt,"Collective IdentityFormation and the International State,"American Political Science Reviezv, Vol. 88, No. 2 (June1994), pp. 384-396; and Wendt,"Con- structingInternational Politics," International Security, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer 1995), pp. 71-81. 3. AlexanderWendt, Social Theoryof International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1999). Referencesto Wendt's book are given in the text,enclosed in parentheses. InternationalSecurity, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Fall2000), pp. 187-212 ? 2000by thePresident and Fellowsof Harvard College and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. 187 InternationalSecurity 25:2 | 188 moderate constructivistpoint thatshared ideas must be considered alongside materialforces in any empiricalanalysis. Instead he seeks to challenge the core neorealistpremise that anarchy forcesstates into recurrentsecurity competi- tions. According to Wendt, whether a system is conflictualor peaceful is a functionnot of anarchyand power but of the shared culturecreated through discursivesocial practices.Anarchy has no determinant"logic," only different culturalinstantiations. Because each actor's conceptionof self(its interestsand identity)is a product of the others' diplomatic gestures,states can reshape structureby process; throughnew gestures,they can reconstituteinterests and identities toward more other-regardingand peaceful means and ends. If Wendt is correct,and "anarchy is what states make of it," then realism has been dealt a crushingblow: States are not condemned by theiranarchic situa- tion to worryconstantly about relativepower and to fall into tragicconflicts. They can act to alterthe intersubjectiveculture that constitutes the system,so- lidifyingover time the non-egoisticmind-sets needed forlong-term peace. NotwithstandingWendt's importantcontributions to internationalrelations theory,his critiqueof structuralrealism has inherentflaws. Most important,it does not adequately address a criticalaspect of the realistworldview: the prob- lem of uncertainty.For structuralrealists, it is states' uncertaintyabout the presentand especially the futureintentions of othersthat makes the levels and trends in relative power such fundamental causal variables. Contrary to Wendt's claim thatrealism must smuggle in stateswith differentlyconstituted intereststo explain why systemssometimes fall into conflict,neorealists argue that uncertaintyabout the other's present interests-whether the other is driven by securityor nonsecuritymotives-can be enough to lead security- seeking states to fight.This problem is exacerbatedby the incentivesthat ac- tors have to deceive one another,an issue Wendt does not address. Yet even when states are fairlysure that the other is also a securityseeker, theyknow thatit mightchange its spots later on. States must thereforeworry about any decline in theirpower, lest the otherturn aggressive after achieving superiority.Wendt's building of a systemic constructivisttheory-and his bracketingof unit-levelprocesses-thus presentshim with an ironicdilemma. It is the very mutabilityof polities as emphasized by domestic-levelconstruc- tivists-that states may change because of domestic processes independentof internationalinteraction-that makes prudentleaders so concernedabout the future.If diplomacy can have only a limitedeffect on another's characteror re- gime type, then leaders must calculate the other's potential to attack later should it acquire motivesfor expansion. In such an environmentof futureun- The ConstructivistChallenge to StructuralRealism | 189 certainty,levels and trendsin relativepower will thus act as a key constraint on state behavior. The problem of uncertaintycomplicates Wendt's effortsto show that anar- chy has no particularlogic, but only threedifferent ideational instantiationsin history-as Hobbesian, Lockean, or Kantian cultures,depending on the level of actor compliance to certainbehavioral norms. By differentiatingthese cul- tures in terms of the degree of cooperative behavior exhibited by states, Wendt's analysis reinforcesthe very dilemma underpinningthe realistargu- ment. If the other is acting cooperatively,how is one to know whetherthis reflectsits peaceful character,or is just a facade masking aggressive desires? Wendt's discussion of the differentdegrees of internalizationof the threecul- turesonly exacerbatesthe problem.What drivesbehavior at the lower levels of internalizationis preciselywhat is not shared between actors-their privatein- centives to comply for short-termselfish reasons. This suggests that the neorealistand neoliberal paradigms,both of which emphasize the role of un- certaintywhen internalizationis low or nonexistent,remain strongcompeti- tors to constructivismin explaining changing levels of cooperation through history.And because Wendt provides littleempirical evidence to support his view in relation to these competitors,the debate over which paradigm pos- sesses greaterexplanatory power is still an open one. The firstsection of thisessay outlinesthe essentialelements of Wendt'sargu- ment against the backdrop of the general constructivistposition. The second considers some of the book's contributionsversus existingtheories within the liberal,constructivist, and realistparadigms. The thirdoffers an extended cri- tique of Wendt's argumentagainst structuralrealism. Overview:Constructivism and Wendt'sArgument Three elementsmake constructivisma distinctform of internationalrelations theorizing.First, global politics is said to be guided by the intersubjectively shared ideas, norms,and values held by actors. Constructivistsfocus on the intersubjectivedimension of knowledge, because theywish to emphasize the social aspect of human existence-the role of shared ideas as an ideational structureconstraining and shaping behavior.4This allows constructiviststo 4. See Audie Klotz and Cecilia Lynch, "Conflicted Constructivism?Positivist Leanings vs. InterpretivistMeanings," paper presentedat the annual meetingof the InternationalStudies Asso- ciation,Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 1998,pp. 4-5; JeffreyCheckel, "The ConstructivistTurn in InternationalSecurity 25:2 | 190 pose this structureas a causal force separate fromthe material structureof neorealism. Second, the ideational structurehas a constitutiveand not just regulative effecton actors.That