.jpg)
printNational Identities and International Relations Redux, or Is It Necessary to ‘Reinvent’ Constructivism?
Gudalov N.N.,
Cand. Sci. (Pol. Sci.), Associate Professor, Saint Petersburg State University, n.gudalov@spbu.ru
elibrary_id: 768580 | ORCID: 0000-0001-7398-933X | RESEARCHER_ID: H-6980-2015
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2017.04.12
Rubric: Reflecting on Matters in Print
For citation:
Gudalov N.N. National Identities and International Relations Redux, or Is It Necessary to ‘Reinvent’ Constructivism? – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.04.12
Abstract
Identity is a prime subject of inquiry for constructivism in international relations theory; it has attracted the longstanding attention of other approaches. The monograph National Identities and International Relations (2016) by Richard Ned Lebow, a prominent international relations scholar, has been one of the most important recent attempts to introduce fundamental innovations in constructivism. This article is aimed at further theoretical reflection on identity through analyzing some controversial aspects in Lebow’s approach and relating them with existing academic viewpoints. Lebow’s ideas are criticized in this article primarily from within the constructivist methodology itself. Four series of problems are considered successively. The first relates to the general understanding of identity. It is shown that the plurality and changeability of identities stressed by Lebow have long been acknowledged in constructivism. The second emerges from the comparison between the identities of states and individuals. Lebow ignores the arguments supporting the possible existence at the state level of such group phenomena as emotions, cognition and consciousness not reducible to the level of their citizens. The article also suggests paying more attention than Lebow does to the gender dimension of states and to the fact that individual and state identities may in principle be equally plural. The third is connected to the sources of identity and to the relation between actors and society. Lebow oscillates between individualist and holistic views. His emphasis on the dialectic nature of identity formation is not novel. At the same time, Lebow obscures the sociality of some aspects of identity. The fourth concerns the mutual influence of identities, interests and practice. On the whole, Lebow underestimates the influence of identities on practice and interests. It is concluded that some of the solutions suggested by Lebow are controversial or not sufficiently novel, though his approach draws attention to important problems of constructivism which require detailed elaboration.
Keywords
international relations theory; constructivism; poststructuralism; postcolonial theory; identity; difference; interest; political practice.
References
Buzan B., Wæver O., de Wilde J. Security: a New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO; London: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 1998. viii, 239 p.
Cederman L.-E., Daase C. Endogenizing Corporate Identities: The Next Step in Constructivist IR Theory. – European Journal of International Relations. 2003. Vol. 9. No. 1. P. 5-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066103009001156
Finnemore M., Sikkink K. International Norm Dynamics and Political Change. – International Organization. 1998. Vol. 52. No. 4. P. 887-917. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550789
Jackson P.T. Hegel’s House, or ‘People are States Too’. – Review of International Studies. 2004. Vol. 30. No. 2. P. 281-287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210504006072
Lebow R.N. The Politics and Ethics of Identity. In Search of Ourselves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012. 444 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139226578
Lebow R.N. Constructing Cause in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2014. x, 196 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107256538
Lebow R.N. National Identities and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2016. x, 270 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316710982
Morozov V. Rossiya i Drugie: identichnost’ i granitsy politicheskogo soobshestva [Russia and Others: Identity and the Borders of Political Community]. Moscow: Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie. 2009. 656 p. (In Russ.)
Neumann I.B. Beware of Organicism: the Narrative Self of the State. – Review of International Studies. 2004. Vol. 30. No. 2. P. 259-267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210504006059
Pavlova E.B., Romanova T.A. Normative Power: Some Theory Aspects and Contemporary Practice of Russia and the EU. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No. 1. P. 162-176. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.01.14
Rovane C. Rationality and Persons. – The Oxford Handbook of Rationality. Ed. by A.R. Mele, P. Rawling. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004. P. 320-342.
Rumelili B. Constructing Identity and Relating to Difference: Understanding the EU’s Mode of Differentiation. – Review of International Studies. 2004. Vol. 30. No. 1. P. 27-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210504005819
Said E. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, Random House. 1979. xii, 369 p.
Security Communities. Ed. by E. Adler, M. Barnett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1998. xiii, 462 p.
Semenenko I.S. Political Identity and Identity Politics. – Political Expertise: POLITEX. 2011. Vol. 7. No. 2. P. 5-24. (In Russ.)
Sjoberg L. Gender, the State, and War Redux: Feminist International Relations across the ‘Levels of Analysis’. – International Relations. 2011. Vol. 25. No. 1. P. 108-134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117810396990
Smorgunov L.V. Political Identity and the Concept of the Political. – Polis. Political Studies. 2012. No. 6. P. 178-185. (In Russ.) URL: http://www.politstudies.ru/article/4654 (accessed 20.03.2017).
The Return of the Theorists. Dialogues with Great Thinkers in International Relations. Ed. by R.N. Lebow, P. Schouten, H. Suganami. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. x, 393 p.
Wendt A. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2003. xvi, 433 p.
Wendt A. The State as Person in International Theory. – Review of International Studies. 2004. Vol. 30. No. 2. P. 289-316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210504006084
Wendt A. Quantum Mind and Social Science. Unifying Physical and Social Ontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2015. xii, 354 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316005163
Wight C. State Agency: Social Action without Human Activity? – Review of International Studies. 2004. Vol. 30. No. 2. P. 269-280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210504006060
Content No. 4, 2017
See also:
Alekseyeva T.A., Lebedeva M.M.,
What Is Happening to the Theory of International Relations. – Polis. Political Studies. 2016. No1
Konyshev V.N., Sergunin A.A.,
International relations theory: on the threshold of new «Great Debates»?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No2
Sergeev V.M., Kazantzev A.A., Medvedeva S.M.,
The Crisis of Constructivism and Methodological Problems of Studying International Relations. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No5
Alekseyeva T.A.,
Agent-structure relations: methodology of constructivism. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No4
Inoguchi T.,
Political theory. – Polis. Political Studies. 2012. No3
.jpg)
.jpg)