Rethinking Reality: The Philosophical Underpinnings of Constructivism in International Relations

Abstract

The study aims to reevaluate the role of constructivism within IR by reassessing its philosophical underpinnings. The main research question posed by this paper is whether constructivism can be coherently recognized as a philosophy of science applicable to IR. Mainly, the paper investigates how constructivism aligns with the philosophy of science on ontological and epistemological grounds, hypothesizing that constructivism provides a valid interpretative framework for understanding the social dynamics in international politics. It is a qualitative research method considering discourse analysis, literature review, and case study in an effort to explain how constructivism challenges IR theories like realism and liberalism. Results show that, while emphasizing the role of ideas, norms, and social interactions, constructivism provides a more subtle explanation of international relations compared to materialist approaches. It underlined the importance of social reality, intersubjectivity, and identity construction. The findings of the research are that while not being universally applicable to all sciences, constructivism still proved to be a strong tool for IR in attempting to better understand how states and actors construct reality through social processes. Important implications will pertain to global governance, climate change policies, and the role of non-state actors in international politics.