Introduction: What Is Constructivism?

The introductory chapter lays out a framework for thinking about Constructivism in IR theory consistent with constructivist premises, and show why it matters by identifying the core features of the New Constructivism using the very tools the new perspective puts at our disposal. Foregrounding IR Constructivism’s own social and historical origins reveals that Constructivism in IR theory is the process of incorporating insights on the social construction of international reality from cognate disciplines, especially sociology but philosophy, social theory, cultural anthropology, geography, and social psychology. It is a space from which scholars can remind their colleagues that outcomes in world politics are the products of historically, culturally, and geographically specific processes. This is not to claim that constructivist explanations of outcomes in world politics cannot be based on shared norms, etc., but that there is more to Constructivism than norms, culture, and identity—together, the emergence of new constructivist ideas like practice theory, relationalism, and others detailed in the book, add up to a New Constructivism in IR theory. The book addresses likely objections to the argument it presents, before outlining the plan of the book.