CIAO DATE: 05/02

Journal of International Relations and Development

 

Vol. 4, No 4 (December 2001)

 

• Introduction to the Special Issue on 'Alexander Wendt's Social Theory for International Relations'
  by Stefano Guzzini and Anna Leander

Articles

• A Social Theory for International Relations: An Appraisal of Alexander Wendt's Theoretical and Disciplinary Synthesis
  by Stefano Guzzini and Anna Leander

The article argues that Alexander Wendt's Social Theory of International Politics is an unusual mix of orthodoxy in terms of discipline-identity and heterodoxy in terms of the theory that should fill it out. Wendt is consciously staying within the identity-defining parameters of the discipline, including its reference to states as the main organising principle and unitary intentional actor, to more legitimately undermine his two main theoretical targets, methodological and ontological individualism, as well as materialism. He achieves this not by simply rejecting the other positions but by gathering, synthesising, indeed sometimes "assimilating" apparently antagonistic meta-theoretical and theoretical positions within his wider constructivist framework.

The risk of this strategy is that, by openly endorsing the language of the old borders, Wendt's grand opening synthesis can become hijacked by this orthodoxy: his theory must reproduce it. He updates the self-understanding of the discipline exactly at a time when it is again challenged. Through his statist theory, he reproduces the embedded understanding of politics of a narrowly defined international society - which might look out of touch with world politics. In other words, his synthesis, as opening and challenging as it is within International Relations, runs the risk of reifying an increasingly historical stage of both the discipline and international politics.

• Reconsidering Wendt's Meta-theory: Blending Scientific Realism with Social Constructivism
  by Milan Brlez

The main argument of the article is that claims of scientific realism and social constructivism cannot be compatible in the ways Wendt tries to defend them in his Social Theory of International Politics. Neither scientific realism nor social constructivism makes much sense in conjunction with positivist methodology, which is ontologically predominantly anti-realist and epistemologically objectivist. The combination Wendt proposes is thus either a particular positivist variation of scientific realism or a particular positivist variation of social constructivism, and strips scientific realism and social constructivism of their more radical consequences for understanding and explaining international relations. The claims that the discipline of International Relations (IR) practically need not fear Wendt, and that IR theorists are better off engaging (not ignoring) him may be substantiated if his scientific realism is detached from methodological positivism. His meta-theory, in addition to more sophisticated variants of scientific realism (e.g. critical realism), offers more possibilities than his reductionist strategy of theorising allows to be seen into the really complex ontology of international relations. Thus, the fact that he dares to speak about the reality "out there" should not be discarded too easily, and some proposals are developed throughout the text on how to accommodate such a claim - always conjectural - with scientific realism and social constructivism.

• The Problem of Structural Change in Alexander Wendt's Social Theory of International Politics
  by Petr Drulák

The article discusses how Social Theory of International Politics (STIP) by Alexander Wendt deals with the problem of structural change. It is argued that Wendt provides a better theoretical framework for addressing structural change than his neo-realist foils. But at the same time his theory suffers from some remnants of neo-realist ahistoricism. The article shows two ways in which a more dynamic framework can be developed while keeping most of the same premises of the STIP. The former introduces explicit hermeneutical elements into the meta-theory of the STIP, while the latter abandons its state-centrism, taking into account a broader variety of actors.

• Devaluing Diplomacy? A Critique of Alexander Wendt's Conception of Progress and Politics
  by Katalin Sárváry

The article offers a critique of Wendt's conception of progress in history. It argues that Wendt arrives at his conception of historical progress from his meta-theory and his progressive view of science. For those not accepting Wendt's meta-theory, the interpretation of historical progress is less convincing. Wendt's conception of progress leads to a devaluation of diplomacy for it prevents us seeing that only successful diplomacy can make change appear progressive, fostering a reading of the past through the lenses of political legitimacy. If the existing conception of political legitimacy makes it difficult for us to read our own past without prejudice, diplomacy across cultures is all the more difficult. The conclusion is that a thicker constructivism is more helpful in helping communication across cultures which, however, leads to a more limited conception of progress.

• Alexander Wendt and the English School
  by Hidbmi Suganami

Alexander Wendt's Social Theory of International Politics and some standard works of the English School share a theory of human nature, state-centrism, a cultural approach, and stress on agential self-restraint. Wendt's hypothetical narratives of collective identity formation and some English School writers' treatment of the evolution of international relations are compared, and their complementarity and relative merits are discussed. The conclusion is reached that there is no sharp epistemological divide between the two approaches, criticising both for their lack of meta-historical reflexivity.

Book Reviews

• War, Peace and World Orders in European History by Alexander Astrov
  by Anja V. Hartmann and Beatrice Heuser (eds)

• International Relations in a Global Age: A Conceptual Challenge by Pavel Pseja
  by Gillian Youngs

• The Rules of Integration: Institutionalist Approaches to the Study of Europe by Peter Bursens
  by Gerald Schneider and Mark Aspinwall (eds)

• Democracy by Force: US Military Intervention in the Post-Cold War World by Jiøi Sedivý
  by Karin von Hippel