Constructivist methods: A plea and manifesto for pluralism

Review of International Studies

Volumn 35, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 195-218

  Lupovici, Amir ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 67749130737     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: 14699044     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210509008389     Document Type: Article

References (197)

1. A similar argument is presented by Hopf, who argues that 'interpretivist scholarship should make these positivistic methods more explicitly salient to make its own work more compelling, and more relevant to the mainstream', Ted Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', in Richard Ned Lebow and Mark Lichbach (eds), Theory and Evidence in Comparative Politics and International Relations (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2007), p. 55.
2. For comprehensive reviews of constructivism, see Jeffery Checkel, 'The Constructivist Turn in International Relations Theory', World Politics, 50:2 (1998), pp. 324-48;
3. Ted Hopf, 'The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory', International Security, 23:1 (1998), pp. 171-200;
4. Emanuel Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', in Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth A. Simmons (eds), Handbook of International Relations (Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002), pp. 95-118.
5. For example, the debate over whether constructivism is a method (Checkel, 'Constructivist Turn', p. 342) or a set of metatheories (David Dessler, 'Constructivism within a Positivist Social Science', Review of International Studies, 25:1 (1999), p. 125).
6. I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for emphasising this point.
7. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', pp. 100-1.
8. Ibid., pp. 97-8.
9. Emanuel Adler, Communitarian International Relations. The Epistemic Foundations of International Relations (New York: Routledge, 2005), pp. 7, 12.
10. For the importance of the 'context', see for example, Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 199.
11. See for example Nina Tannenwald, 'The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Normative Basis of Nuclear Non-Use', International Organization, 53:1 (1999), pp. 433-68, 439, 441.
12. Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 198.
13. See for example, Emanuel Adler, 'Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics', European Journal of International Relations, 3:3 (1997), pp. 319-63;
14. Checkel, 'Constructivist Turn';
15. Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism';
16. John G. Ruggie, Constructing the Global Polity (New York: Routledge, 1998);
17. Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
18. Checkel, 'Constructivist Turn', pp. 338-9;
19. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', p. 109;
20. Jeffery Checkel, 'Tracing Causal Mechanisms', International Studies Review, 8:2 (2006), p. 370.
21. Karin Fierke, Critical Approaches to International Security (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006);
22. Jennifer Milliken, 'The Study of Discourse in International Relations: A Critique of Research and Methods', European Journal of International Relations, 5:2 (1999), pp. 225-54;
23. Lene Hansen, Security as Practice. Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War (London: Routledge, 2006);
24. Audie Klotz and Cecelia Lynch, 'Translating Terminologies', International Studies Review, 8:2 (2006), pp. 356-62;
25. Audie Klotz and Cecelia Lynch, Strategies for Research in Constructivist International Relations (Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 2007).
26. Jeffery Checkel, 'Why Comply? Social Learning and European Identity Change', International Organization, 53:3 (2001), pp. 553-88;
27. Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism';
28. Ted Hopf, Social Construction of International Politics. Identities and Foreign Policies, Moscow, 1955 & 1999 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002);
29. Vincent Pouliot, ' "Sobjectivism": Toward a Constructivist Methodology', International Studies Quarterly, 51 (2007), pp. 359-84.
30. An important point is that methodology is a crucial requirement in the process of theory development, especially in the testing and evaluating of new theories.
31. Ruggie, Constructing the Global Polity, pp. 35-6;
32. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', pp. 97-8;
33. Klotz and Lynch, 'Translating Terminologies', p. 356;
34. See also Hansen, Security as Practice, p. 10.
35. See for example, Neta C. Crawford, 'Understanding Discourse: A Method of Ethical Argument Analysis', Qualitative Methods, 2:1 (2004), pp. 23-5;
36. Milliken, 'The Study of Discourse', pp. 226-8;
37. Hansen, Security as Practice;
38. Fierke, Critical Approaches, p. 84.
39. See for example, Pouliot, 'Sobjectivism';
40. Hopf, Social Construction.
41. Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research.
42. Klotz and Lynch, 'Translating Terminologies'.
43. Ibid., pp. 358-62.
44. Similarly, they argue that their aim is 'to glean strategies for designing research projects rather than to advocate any single model or set of methods . . . We demonstrate how similar research problems can be explored with various methods,' Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, pp. 4-5.
45. Ibid., p. 6.
46. Pouliot, 'Sobjectivism';
47. Hopf, Social Construction;
48. Checkel, 'Tracing Causal Mechanisms', p. 369.
49. The methodology suggested in this paper follows Checkel's study in many respects. However, it differs from it mainly in the necessity of elaborating further methodological issues and extending discourse analysis. See Checkel, 'Why Comply'.
50. Regarding interviews, see also Klotz and Lynch, Translating Terminologies, p. 361.
51. Hopf, Social Construction, p. xi.
52. Ibid., pp. xiv, 20, 23-4.
53. In addition, by combining different methods I aim to provide a way to study not only a shift in actor's identity, but also to explain it. For such a need, see for example, Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 79.
54. Pouliot, 'Sobjectivism', p. 360;
55. See also Arie M. Kacowicz, 'Case Study Methods in International Security Studies', in Detlef F. Sprinz and Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias (eds), Models, Numbers and Cases: Methods for Studying International Relations (Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press, 2004), p. 113.
56. In other words, I try to follow Checkel's as well as Klotz and Lynch's suggestion to utilise methodological pluralism, Checkel, 'Tracing Causal Mechanisms', pp. 369-70;
57. Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 19.
58. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', p. 101.
59. Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', pp. 55, 56-9;
60. Ronald Jepperson, Alexander Wendt and Peter Katzenstein, 'Norms, Identity and Culture in National Security', in Peter Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security, (New York: Columbia University Press), pp. 67-8;
61. Gary King, Robert Keohane and Sydney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry - Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 34-7.
62. It was emphasised that constitutive theories also have explanatory power. See King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, ftn.1, p. 75;
63. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, pp. 84-7, 165-8.
64. See also Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 15.
65. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, pp. 85-6, italics in original;
66. and compare with Jepperson, Wendt and Katzenstein, 'Norms, Identity and Culture', p. 67.
67. Martin Hollis and Steve Smith, Explaining and Understanding in International Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 1.
68. Tannenwald, 'Nuclear Taboo', p. 464.
69. See Frederick V. Kratochwil and Gerard Ruggie, 'International Organization: A State of Art on an Art of State', International Organization, 40:4 (1986), p. 767;
70. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, p. 87.
71. An impressive presentation of this approach was made by Tannenwald, who uses the method of burden of proof to show the variance in the salience of the nuclear taboo over the years, Tannenwald, 'Nuclear Taboo', pp. 440-62.
72. See Kratochwil, V. Frederick and Gerard Ruggie, International Organization, p. 768.
73. Checkel also highlights the importance of using methods that explore the actors' behaviour in order to study norms (e.g. analysing international agreements). See Jeffery Checkel, 'Norms, Institutions and National Identity in Contemporary Europe', International Studies Quarterly, 43:1 (1999), p. 92.
74. Cortell and Davis argue that discourse analysis is highly important in the study of norms, not only because it precedes other changes that indicate the norm's salience, but also because it clarifies how specific actions not compatible with the norm were ruled out. See Andrew P. Cortell and James W. Davis Jr., 'Understanding the Domestic Impact of International Norms: A Research Agenda', International Studies Review, 2:1 (2000), pp. 65-87, 71.
75. I use here the word 'variables' although it may be problematic, since there are, as noted before, constitutive relations between elements of a study, and not only causal ones. However, this word choice may help to clarify the arguments suggested in this paper and emphasise the need for a more rigid methodology.
76. Andrew Bennett, 'Case Studies Methods: Design, Use, and Comparative Advantages', in Detlef F. Sprinz and Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias (eds), Models, Numbers and Cases: Methods for Studying International Relations (Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press, 2004), p. 19.
77. Kacowicz, 'Case Study Methods', p. 110.
78. For example, such combinations may shed light on the question of how social constructions shape material reality and vice versa.
79. Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005), pp. 12-13, 19-22, 206-7. I tend to agree with the scholars who recommend beginning agent-structure research from a given structure (top-down) and not bottom-up as some anthropologists, economists, and psychologists suggest, see in Walter Carlsnaes, 'The Agency-Structure Problem in Foreign Policy Analysis', International Studies Quarterly, 36:3 (1992), pp. 245-70, 260, 264;
80. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, p. 372. Regarding methodological holism, see also Adler, Communitarian International Relations, pp. 5, 12.
81. George and Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development, p. 206;
82. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, pp. 82-3, 154-5.
83. For the difference between the methods of discourse analysis and content analysis, see Fierke, Critical Approaches, pp. 84-5;
84. For differences among scholars who execute the method of discourse analysis, see Hansen, Security as Practice, p. 221.
85. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, pp. 84-5, 165-8.
86. Compare Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', pp. 242-4 and 234.
87. Regarding the connections between identity and discourse, see Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 1, 13;
88. Hansen, Security as Practice, p. 44.
89. Ibid., pp. 232-5,
90. ftn.7, p. 249.
91. According to Checkel, using process tracing may help to bridge between interpretative and rational approaches. Good process tracing 'will utilize this pluralism both to reconstruct carefully causal processes and to not lose sight of the broader structural-discursive-ethical context', Checkel, 'Tracing Causal Mechanisms', pp. 363-4, 369-70, passim.
92. In this respect, the suggested method here is similar to that of deconstruction (showing that the reality could have been different) and those of juxtaposition and gerontology (showing that the reality could have been differently interpreted). See Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', pp. 242-4. It is also similar to Hansen's argument regarding the importance of providing to some extent comparison in conducting discourse analysis, Hansen, Security as Practice, p. 80.
93. Klotz and Lynch, 'Translating Terminologies', p. 361;
94. Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, pp. 31, 34-5.
95. George and Bennett argue that counterfactuals can be combined with theoretical arguments on different levels. George and Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development, pp. 210-15.
96. Thus, for example compare James D. Fearon, 'Counterfactuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political Science', World Politics, 43:2 (1991), pp. 169, 171;
97. and Steve Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students in Political Science (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), p. 48.
98. See also Philip Tetlock and Aaron Belkin, 'Counterfactual Thoughts Experiments in World Politics: Logical, Psychological Perspectives', in Philip Tetlock and Aaron Belkin (eds), Counterfactual Thoughts Experiments in World Politics: Logical, Psychological Perspectives (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 3-38, 4;
99. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, p. 88;
100. Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', p. 237.
101. John Mueller, 'The Essential Irrelevance of Nuclear Weapons. Stability in the Postwar World', International Security, 13:2 (1988), pp. 55-79, 68-79.
102. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, p. 88.
103. George and Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development, p. 219.
104. See King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, pp. 14-20.
105. Probe research may also be useful for this aim, see Harry Eckstein, 'Case Study and Theory in Political Science. Strategies of Inquiry', in F. I. Greenstein and N. W. Polsby (eds), The Handbook of Political Science, 7 (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975), pp. 79-138, 108-13.
106. For further elaboration on the connection between theoretical conceptualisation and the ability to generalise the findings of the research, see Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 29-32.
107. David Nachmias and Chava Nachmias, Research Methods in the Social Sciences (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976), p. 29.
108. For a more general discussion of the challenges interpretivists face 'selecting' case studies, see Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', pp. 64-5, 71.
109. For a discussion on the difference between cases and observations, see King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, pp. 116-18.
110. Kacowicz, 'Case Study Methods', pp. 112-13.
111. Bennett, 'Case Studies Methods', ftn. 23, p. 51;
112. Van Evera's, Guide to Methods, pp. 46-7.
113. Nachmias and Nachmias, Research Methods, pp. 23-7;
114. Charles C. Ragin, Constructing Social Research. The Unity and Diversity of Methods (Thousands Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 1994), p. 14.
115. For the need to develop rival hypotheses, see ibid., pp. 14-16.
116. Checkel, 'Why Comply', pp. 562-3.
117. Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, 'International Norms and Dynamics and Political Change', International Organizations, 52:4 (1998), pp. 887-909.
118. This problem was mainly discussed with regard to the study of norms. See Checkel, 'Norms, Institutions and National Identity', p. 92;
119. Finnemore and Sikkink, 'International Norms', p. 892;
120. Cortell and Davis, 'Understanding the Domestic Impact of International Norms', pp. 69-70.
121. A similar kind of argument is suggested by Klotz and Lynch with regard to the relations between identities and interests, Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 83.
122. Kacowicz, 'Case Study Methods', p. 113.
123. For example, Fierke warns that there are not really objective definitions: 'the world of analysis is limited from the start by the choices, and thus arguably the interpretation of the analyst', Fierke, Critical Approaches, p. 84.
124. Crawford, 'Understanding Discourse', pp. 23-4;
125. Hansen, Security as Practice, pp. 59-64, 82. Hansen argues that scholars need to determine whether they want to study official discourse, wider political debates, cultural representations, or marginal political discourses. In addition, Hopf suggests that texts to be analysed may be found in archives, interviews, popular culture, and even secondary sources.
126. See Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 23-4.
127. For more general suggestions of analysing varied sources, see Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 50.
128. Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', 233, 240-1;
129. Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 33, 52-3, 59-64.
130. For further operational suggestions for planning discourse analysis, see Hansen, Security as Practice, pp. 73-82.
131. Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', pp. 240-1.
132. Crawford, 'Understanding Discourse', pp. 23-4.
133. This is to some extent different from Hopf's presentation of alternative explanations near the end of his book, Hopf, Social Construction.
134. In more methodological terms, studying alternative explanations contributes to the enhancement of the internal validity of the research, see Hopf, Social Construction, p. 32.
135. See Jeffrey W. Legro, 'Which Norms Matter? Revisiting the "Failure"of Internationalism', International Organization, 51:1 (1997), pp. 33-4.
136. Tannenwald, 'Nuclear Taboo'.
137. See for example, Timothy W. Luke, 'What's Wrong with Deterrence? A Semiotic Interpretation of National Security Policy', in James Der Derian and Michael J. Shapiro (eds), International/ Intertextual Relations (New York: Lexington Books, 1989), p. 213-14.
138. Ibid., p. 214.
139. Richard Price and Nina Tannenwald, 'Norms and Deterrence: The Nuclear and Chemical Taboos', in Peter J. Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 135, 139.
140. For another example of how a constructivist explanation (of identity) provides a better explanation than that suggested by an alternative neo-realist explanation, see Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 271-8.
141. Nachmias and Nachmias, Research Methods, pp. 29-36.
142. The method of process tracing enhances the internal validity since it moves us away from correlational arguments toward theories that capture and explain the world as it really works, Checkel, 'Tracing Causal Mechanisms', p. 366.
143. See for example Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 197;
144. see also Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 32-3.
145. Nachmias and Nachmias, Research Methods, p. 29.
146. Tannenwald, 'Nuclear Taboo', p. 441.
147. John G. Ruggie, 'Territoriality and Beyond: Problematizing Modernity in International Relations', International Organization, 46:1 (1993), pp. 139-74;
148. Robert Jackson, Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 50-81.
149. Ibid., pp. 21-31.
150. Regarding cross-sectional study of norms see for example Legro, 'Which Norms Matter?', pp. 38-45.
151. Scott A. Silverstone, 'The Preventive War Taboo vs. the Anti-Proliferation Imperative: Contested Norms and Strategic Responses to Nuclear Proliferation', paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, San Diego, California, 22-26 March 2006.
152. This follows the great importance of studying chains of events in a constructivist research, Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 196;
153. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations', p. 95, it may be useful to use cross-sectional studies as complementary to the study of longitudinal surveys.
154. See, for example, Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 29.
155. Bennett, 'Case Studies Methods', p. 34;
156. Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, pp. 20-1.
157. Ruggie, Constructing the Global Polity, p. 9;
158. George and Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development, p. 22.
159. Richard Price and Christian Reus-Smit, 'Dangerous Liaisons? Critical International Theory and Constructivism', European Journal of International Relations, 4:3 (1998), pp. 259-94, 273-5.
160. See also Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', p. 66.
161. Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', p. 71;
162. Adler, 'Constructivism and International Relations,' p. 101.
163. Ibid.
164. Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 197;
165. See for example Checkel, 'Why Comply'.
166. Kim Solomon, 'What Is the Use of International History?', Journal of Peace Research, 30:4 (1993), pp. 375-89, 383-4.
167. Tannenwald, 'Nuclear Taboo', p. 464.
168. Eckstein, 'Case Study and Theory in Political Science', pp. 44-6.
169. But see Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', p. 64.
170. Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett, 'A Framework for the Study of Security Communities', in Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett (eds), Security Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 29-66, 413-41.
171. Checkel, 'Constructivist Turn', p. 339. This is also why discussing alternative explanations is a crucial step in conducting the research.
172. Steven Bernstein et al., 'God Gave Physics the Easy Problems: Adapting Social Science to an Unpredictable World', European Journal of International Relations, 6:1 (2000), pp. 50-9.
173. Hopf, 'Promise of Constructivism', p. 197.
174. John R. Searle, Mind, Language and Society (New York: Basic, 1998), p. 28.
175. Compare for example with Matthew B. Miles and Michael A. Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994), p. 36;
176. Paula Saukko, Doing Research in Cultural Studies: An Introduction to Classical and New Methodological Approaches (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003), p. 21-2.
177. In this respect see Milliken, 'Study of Discourse', pp. 242-4.
178. See for example Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, 'International Norms and Dynamics and Political Change', International Organizations, 52:4 (1998), pp. 887-917, 901.
179. Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 27, 29;
180. Pouliot, 'Sobjectivism', pp. 378.
181. See also regarding the interpretivist treatment of anomalies, Hopf, 'The Limits of Interpreting Evidence', pp. 68-9.
182. For further elaboration of the criterion of reliability with regard to discourse analysis, see Hopf, Social Construction, p. 29;
183. Milliken, 'The Study of Discourse', pp. 232-5, ftn.7, p. 249.
184. See Adler and Barnett, 'Framework for the Study', pp. 38-45, and compare with pp. 7-9.
185. It should be noted that an explanation of this war exceeds the illustrative aims of this section.
186. Uri Bar-Joseph, Israel's National Security Towards the 21st Century (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 2;
187. Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb (New York: Columbia University Press).
188. Emanuel Adler, 'Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't, "Performative Power"and the Strategy of Conventional and Nuclear Defusing' in T.V Paul, Patrick M. Morgan and James J. Wirtz (eds) Complex Deterrence: Theory and Practice in a New Era (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, forthcoming 2009).
189. Shiping Tang, 'Reputation, Cult of Reputation, and International Conflict', Security Studies, 14:1 (2005), pp. 34-61.
190. See for example the speech of Jamal Zahalka, cited in Knesset Minutes, 14 August 2006 [in Hebrew].
191. Winograd Commission Interim Report, (May 2007) [in Hebrew]. See also the commission website, [in Hebrew].
192. See Winograd Commission Interim Report, p. 135.
193. The movie (named after a fortress in South Lebanon) was a blockbuster in Israeli terms.
194. See in Dalia Dassa Kaye, 'The Israeli Decision to Withdraw from Southern Lebanon: Political Leadership and Security Policy', Political Science Quarterly, 117:4 (2002-3), pp. 579-81.
195. For example see in Winograd Commission Interim Report, p. 58.
196. In other words, and following Klotz and Lynch, there is no one correct way to pursue research, Klotz and Lynch, Strategies for Research, p. 23.
197. Hopf, Social Construction, pp. 270-1.