- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
(p. 79) 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- Chapter:
- (p. 79) 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- Author(s):
Trine Flockhart
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780198708902.003.0004
This chapter examines the basic assumptions and foreign policy relevance of constructivism. Using European security as an illustrative example, it shows that constructivism is a valuable tool not only for understanding foreign policy, but also as a guide for prescribing foreign policy. The chapter first explains what constructivism is, outlining the constructivist view that anarchy exists in different forms with major implications for how agents act. It then considers some of the main propositions and conceptual tools of constructivism, with particular emphasis on its arguments regarding identity, social construction, rules, and practice. It also analyses constructivism’s alternative understandings of NATO’s role after the end of the Cold War and in present-day European security. It asserts that theory is important in foreign policy making — including constructivism — because different theories imply different policies and may make alternative policy options visible which would otherwise easily have been overlooked.
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- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
