Social constructivism, Feminism

1. Theories of International Relations
21th class meeting, May 31, 2016
Social constructivism – IV: Fierke in DKS
Feminism – I: Enloe
Anna van der Vleuten

2. 2 Constructivisms
1. L’histoire se repète?
2. Social ontology, social
facts
3. Social dimension: Nicolas
Onuf, A World of our
making (1989)
4. Identity constituts interest
5. Explaining –
understanding (why? how
possible?)
2
15-9-2016
(F & S have withdrawn all their money
from their bank account) “In fact these
are only just pieces of paper!”

3. 3 Constructivism - role of identity in interregional relations
‘Why did SADC, an intergovernmental organization, establish a supranational
court, only to suspend it?’
M. Hulse and A. van der Vleuten (2015) ‘Agent run amuck. The SADC Tribunal and Governance
Transfer Roll-back’, in: T.A. Börzel and V. van Hüllen (Eds) Governance Transfer by Regional
Organizations, Palgrave, pp 84-103.
SADC Tribunal, Windhoek, Namibia

4. 4 Why no harm to SADC reputation?
Identities and rhetorical entrapment
Identity SADC:
• Ubuntu  difficult for the credibility of SADC to criticize African ‘brothers
and sisters’
• African renaissance: ‘the emergence of the continent from a long period of
darkness and fear into one of light and a dream fulfilled… in which through
our personal efforts we have redefined ourselves’ (Thabo Mbeki)
• Anti-colonialism :
‘We are tired of being lectured on democracy by the very countries which
under colonialism either directly denied us the rights of free citizens, or were
indifferent to our suffering and yearning to break free and be democratic’
(PM Tanzania, 2004).

5. 5 Constructivism: epistemology
• Rationalism
• Social constructivism
- Middle ground or conventional
constructivists: social ontology &
‘positivist’ epistemology
- ‘Critical’ or consistent
constructivists: social ontology &
social epistemology  language!
‘speech acts’
= Linguistic turn
15-9-2016 5

6. 6 Fierke as a consistent constructivist
Thich Quang Duc, 1963, Saigon
Speech acts

7. 7 Case study War on Terror
Neorealism:
- Actors?
- Threat?
- Behaviour of states under anarchy?
Constructivism:
- How actors & identities are
constructed in interactions
- How they define each other in a
certain context as antagonists
- Potential for transformation

8. 8 Case Study War on Terror, speech acts
Construction
−of actors and
identities
−of threat,
−of conflict
Potential for
transformation

9. 9 Constructivism – speech acts
Jason Sharman
• Blacklisting  effectiveness of backlisting, ‘power’ of IOs
• Money laundering  effectiveness of international regulation
Sharman (2009) ‘The bark is the bite. International Organizations and blacklisting’, Review of
InternationalPolitical Economy, 16:4, 573-596h
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290802403502#preview
Sharman (2010) ‘Shopping for anonymous shell companies’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24:4, 127-140,
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20799176?uid=3738736&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21104
080908527

10. 10 [The fourth great debate] Feminism in IR
Rationalism/
Utilitarism
Constructivism Postpositivism/
Reflectivism
Feminist
rationalism
Joshua Goldstein
Mary Caprioli &
Mark Boyer
Feminist
constructivism
R. Charli Carpenter
Feminist critical security studies
Christine Chin
Laura Sjoberg
Feminist critical political economy
Elisabeth Prügl
Jacqui True
Feminist poststructuralism
Charlotte Hooper
Laura Shepherd
Feminist postcolonialism
Geeta Chowdry and Sheila Nair

11. 11 What is feminist IR about?
Introduction: Professor Kimberley Hutchins on Feminism in International
Relations, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajAWGztPUiU (12 minutes)
1. Pointing to the exclusions and biases of mainstream IR (state-centrism and
positivism)
2. Making women visible as social, economic and political subjects in
international politics
3. Analyse how gender inequalities are embedded in the day-to-day practices
of international relations
4. Empower women as subjects of knowledge by building theoretical
understanding of international relations from the position of women and
their lived experiences.
(Jill Steans, 2003, 435)

12. 12 Cynthia Enloe
Making Feminist Sense of International
Politics. Bananas, Beaches and Bases
(1989)
What do feminist researchers do?
•Introduce gender as a variable
•Private – domestic – local – trivial
•Where are the women (Merkel – secretary)?
•Micro-practices
•Where does power operate?  marriage
•Taking transnational feminists seriously
•Example of the UN Arms Trade Treaty
•Where are the men?