Reflectivist and Constructivist Approches Flashcards
dominant theory in international relations
realism
changes that challenged the dominance of realism
1.) new approaches have been developed
2.) developments in other academic
disciplines
3.) resurgence of liberalism in
the form of neo-liberal institutionalism
theories that perceive the world as external to human understanding
Explanatory theories
assert that theories actively shape and construct the world
constitutive theories
structural realist and structuralist theories primarily adopt an ___________
approach
explanatory
newer approaches, including certain liberal perspectives,
tend to be ________ theories
constitutive
The ___________ distinction in the philosophy of social science revolves around whether beliefs about the world can be
objectively tested.
foundational/anti-foundational
True or false
Foundationalists believe that truth claims can be judged true or false
based on neutral grounds,
True
______ argue that neutral grounds do
not exist, and each theory defines what counts as facts.
anti-foundationalists
TRUE OR FALSE
new approaches to
international theory, including post-modernism, some feminist theory, and normative
theory, lean towards foundationalism.
FALSE
TRUE OR FALSE
the neo-neo debate, historical
sociology, and critical theory tend towards foundationalism.
TRUE
________ aims
to occupy the middle ground
Social constructivism
TRUE OR FALSE
constitutive theories
often lean towards foundationalism; Explanatory theories generally align with anti-foundationalism.
False
Traditional international theory was largely influenced by _____ ideas
positivistic
who is associated mainly with social constructivism?
Alexander Wendt
Theories under rationalism
Neo-realism
Neo-liberalism
Theories under reflectivism
Post modernism
Feminism
Normative Theory
Critical Theory
Historical Sociology
Bridges the gap between rationalism and reflectivism
Social Constructivism
give the focal points for the following reflectivist approaches
- gender for feminists
- values for normative theories
- knowledge construction
for postmodernists - state-class relationships for historical sociologists
-knowledge/power
relationships for critical theorists.
emphasized empirical analysis
over normative debates
Positivism
focuses on
humanity or individuals
Cosmopolitanism
communitarianism prioritizes __________
political community (the state)
focused on addressing the absence of
women in world politics.
liberal feminism
________ feminists like Enloe advocate for equal rights and opportunities for women, aiming to
scrutinize and dismantle structures that perpetuate women’s exclusion from power.
liberal
________ feminism draws from Marxism to highlight economic forces, particularly
within _______, shaping women’s lives.
Socialist/Marxist; capitalism
Key difference between socialist and marxist feminism
Marxist- capitalism
Socialisy - capitalism + patriarchy
_________ feminism, combines post-modern identity
theories with a focus on gender rather than exclusively on women.
Post-modernist feminism
analyzes how world
politics’ structures construct gender roles, questioning the production of ‘men’ and ‘women’ in
global politics
Post-modernist feminism
______ feminism challenges the predominantly male
influence on the world.
Standpoint feminism
argues that current knowledge is biased towards men, offering only a
partial understanding
Standpoint feminism
________
challenges traditional social science methodologies.
Critical theory
According to _______, the social scientist is inherently part of the society studied.
Max Horkheimer
_______ contributed to the
concept of the ideal speech situation, emphasizing communicative competence for rational
political consensus.
Jürgen Habermas
________ advocates for international theory to be rooted in critical theory. Heemphasizes that
concepts like ‘individuals’ or ‘states’ are not inherent but products of historical and social forces.
Robert Cox
akin to critical theory, challenges the notion of the state as a given in world
politics, delving into the complex social processes that shape societies over time.
Historical sociology
highlights the intricate
and varied nature of states. It emphasizes that states are not only products of domestic and
international forces but are also influenced by globalization.
Historical sociology
He argues that the national state prevailed due to its role in
warfare, distinguishing between capital-intensive and coercion-intensive regimes.
Charles Tilly
three types of states resulting from the combinations of these forms of
power (capital and coercion)
tribute-making empires, fragmented sovereignty systems (city-states), and national
states
IEMP model stands for _________
ideological, economic, military, and political
His work, though complex and ambitious, contributes
significantly to understanding how states have evolved and interacted with the
international political system.
Michael Mann
a highly influential theoretical development across the social sciences in recent
decades, entered international theory in the mid-1980s
Post-modernism
_______ defines it as “incredulity towards
metanarratives,” referring to theories claiming absolute truth.
Jean-François Lyotard
aims to
deconstruct and distrust any narrative claiming direct access to truth
Post-modernism
Two themes by Richard Devetak
Power-knowledge relationship & Textual Strategies
influenced by Michel Foucault, suggests that power
creates knowledge. All power needs knowledge, and all knowledge supports existing
power structures.
Power-knowledge relationship
Drawing
from Derrida’s perspective suggests that the way we perceive the social world is akin to
interpreting a text.
Textual Strategies
2 ways of expo textual interplays:
Deconstruction & Double reading
True or False
Double reading challenges the notion that language presents stable and natural concepts,
instead highlighting how language constructs artificial hierarchies.
False
True or False
Deconstruction demonstrates that
theories and discourses rely on these artificial stabilities created by apparent oppositions
in language, such as rich/poor or good/bad, which privilege one term over the other.
True
True or False
Deconstruction involves examining a text from two perspectives.
False
