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This paper argues that constructivism has been brought gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart through a process of normalization. It shows how these practices and events permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism, and thus of the rest of the mainstream scholarship.
This paper argues that constructivism has been brought gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart through a process of normalization. It shows how these practices and events permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism, and thus of the rest of the mainstream scholarship.
This paper argues that constructivism has been brought gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart through a process of normalization. It shows how these practices and events permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism, and thus of the rest of the mainstream scholarship.
The normalization of constructivism in International Relations Nik Hynek a, * and Andrea Teti b a Institute of International Relations, Nerudova 3, 118 50 Prague 1, Czech Republic. E-mail: hynek@iir.cz, web: http://www.iir.cz/display.asp?ida=441&idi=427 b Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, Aberdeen AB24 3QY, UK. E-mail: a.teti@abdn.ac.uk, web: www.abdn.ac.uk/Bpol244 *Corresponding author. Institute of International Relations, Nerudova 3, 118 50 Prague 1, Czech Republic. Abstract International Relationss (IRs) intellectual history is almost always treated as a history of ideas in isolation from both those discursive and political economies which provide its disciplinary and wider (political) context. This paper contributes to this wider analysis by focusing on the impact of the fields discursive economy. Specifically, using Foucaultian archaeologico-genealogical strategy of problematization to analyse the emergence and disciplinary trajectories of Constructivism in IR, this paper argues that Constructivism has been brought gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart through a process of normalization, and investigates how it was possible for Constructivism to be purged of its early critical potential, both theoretical and practical. The first part of the paper shows how the intellectual configuration of Constructivism and its disciplinary fortunes are inseparable from far-from- unproblematic readings of the Philosophy of Social Science: the choices made at this level are neither as intellectually neutral nor as disciplinarily inconsequen- tial as they are presented. The second and third parts chart the genealogies of Constructivism, showing how its overall normalization occurred in two stages, each revolving around particular practices and events. The second part concentrates on older genealogies, analysing the politics of early classificatory practices regarding Constructivism, and showing how these permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism and thus of the rest of the mainstream scholarship which it was depicted as compatible with against more radical Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques. Finally, the third part focuses attention on recent genealogies, revealing new attempts to reconstruct and reformulate Constructivism: here, indirect neutralization practices such as the elaboration of Pragmatist Constructivism, as well as the direct neutraliza- tion such as the formulation of Realist Constructivism, are key events in r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 www.palgrave-journals.com/cpt/ Constructivisms normalization. These apparently critical alternatives that aim to provide the identity variable in fact remain close to Neo-utilitarianism, but their successful representation as critical help neutralize calls for greater openness in mainstream IR. Rather than a simple intellectual history, it is this complex process of (re)reading and (re)producing that counts as Constructivism, which explains both the normalization of Constructivism and the continued marginalization of Postmodernist/Post-structuralist approaches in mainstream IRs infra-disciplinary balance of intellectual power. Contemporary Political Theory (2010) 9, 171199. doi:10.1057/cpt.2008.49 Keywords: Constructivism; international relations theory; Foucault; Philosophy of Social Science; Postmodernism/Post-structuralism Introduction Reviewing two decades of debates over Constructivism in International Relations (IR) suggests that few such interventions since have shifted the fields centre of intellectual gravity away from the Neo-Realist/Neo-Liberal convergence. These debates, however, taken as pivotal events are woven into the fields intellectual history, and unproblematically conflated with IRs evolution as a field. Undoubtedly useful, these histories remain nonetheless limited insofar as they ignore other factors that affect disciplinary fortunes, from the discursive and political economies of knowledge production, to wider intellectual trends and political contexts. Responding to calls for existing accounts to be supplemented or questioned (Deibert, 1997; Waever, 1998), this paper focuses on IRs discursive economy: it analyses the links between the intellectual histories of Constructivism in IR and the fields broader discursive economy, analysing how Constructivism has come to be thought of as compatible with the Neo-Realist/Neo-Liberal convergence, and the consequent impact on IRs balance of infra-disciplinary power. To do this, debates about Constructivism are approached as discursive practices within an existing discursive economy: these practices ultimately imposed upon events produce that principle of regularity (Foucault, 2002 [1969], p. 191) upon which IRs intellectual history is built. A strategy of problematization, will help retrieve both the synchronic rules according to which the discourse around Constructivism operates (its archaeology) and their diachronic evolution (its genealogy; Foucault, 1992 [1984], pp. 1112). This, in turn, enables an analysis of the intellectual and disciplinary political impact of those particular constructions. The paper first outlines basic positions in Philosophy of Social Science (PoSS) in order to clarify both Constructivisms and mainstream IRs Hynek and Teti 172 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 intellectual commitments. These discussions then enable an analysis of how selective readings of those terms of reference were deployed in debates over Constructivisms classification, and over its compatibility with social scientific IR. Viewed in this light, debates over taxonomies and over Constructivisms relations with Realism and Pragmatism reveal a series of blind spots and a convergence with Neo-utilitarian IR which cannot be explained purely in terms of intellectual history but suggest a process of normalization of Constructivisms radical potential, a process which must in turn be read in the context of wider relations between Neo-utilitarianism and Postmodernist/ Post-structuralist IR. 1 Positions and Boundaries: Constructivism(s) in Philosophy of Social Science and International Relations The Philosophical Turn has made serious IR scholarship impossible without reference to PoSS: at once grounding and legitimizing theoretical arguments, the selectivity/partiality of borrowings helps untangle how a discursive economy of IR within which Constructivism can be normalized is articulated. Constructivism(s) and Philosophy of Social Science Most Constructivists embark upon the obligatory journey to philosophical legitimacy arguing that understanding Constructivism requires a grasp of basic PoSS positions (for example Adler, 1997, 2003; Wendt, 1999; Guzzini, 2000; Jrgensen, 2001). This section outlines those positions, how they have been represented and appropriated, and the disciplinary effects of these readings (cf. Hynek and Hynek, 2007). As Table 1 indicates, there is no single constructivist position in PoSS, but rather a multiplicity of ontological and epistemological constructivisms. 2 Ontologically, a distinction is usually made between mind-independence and mind-dependence: proponents of the former argue objects exist independently of observation, their counterparts suggest they exist at least partly as a result of observers beliefs. There are two main mind- independent positions: empiricism and scientific realism, with logical positivism (or logical empiricism) less frequently mentioned. Empiricism occupies positions (1A) and (1B). This monist position accepts that social and natural sciences are both based on objects with analogous ontological properties, and on the neutrality of observation, emphasizing that impartial observation is not only possible, but necessary, insofar as value biases Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 173 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 threaten the entire research programme. Furthermore, empiricists argue scientific knowledge can be closely connected to direct evidence by testing all theories and hypotheses against direct observations. The difference between nave and constructive empiricism (1A and 1B) is epistemological and lies in scientists role both in knowledge translation/production and in different understandings of verification: unlike nave empiricists defending simple induction and maintaining that immediate sense experience is by itself sufficient to provide the foundations for knowledge (Uebel, 1992, p. 205), constructive empiricists emphasize the importance of scientists in knowledge production, with scientific theories being both semantically literal and empirically exact as a result (van Fraassen, 1980, pp. 1011). As for verification, whereas nave empiricists take individual scientific statements as the basis for knowledge verification, for constructive empiricists, theories as a whole are the basis for verification or refutation: an untenable theory will be replaced by a more literal and adequate theory (van Fraassen, 1980, pp. 35, 78). 3 Both positions concur that observational evidence is an important source for knowledge, although logical positivists acknowledge its limits (Kolakowski, 1972) and assert that knowledge also includes elements not derived from direct empirical observation (Russell, 1978 [1924]; Schlick, 1978 [1932]), arguing that some propositions are known only by intuition and deduction (for example logical inferences from protocol sentences) (Ayer, 1978; Carnap, 1978 [1931]; cf. Popper, 1959). Positions (2A) and (2B) encapsulate scientific realism, which requires mind-independence ontologically, and shares empiricisms trust in law-like generalizations. The ontological difference between them stems from differ- ences concerning what can be observed and thus researched: although empiricism claims only observable entities can be objects of scientific inquiry, scientific realism makes causal statements about underlying structures, including unobservable ones (Harre and Madden, 1975; Sayer, 1998) what matters are objects real, internal and manipulable mechanisms (Bhaskar, 1979; Archer, 1998). Scientific realists give structures causal powers, arguing that Table 1: Main ontologicalepistemological positions in PoSS ontology epistemology non-constructivist (nave) Constructivist mind-independence 1A. nave empiricism 1B. constructivist empiricism 2A. nave realism 2B. constructivist realism mind-dependence 3A. nave constructivism [non-sequitur] 3B. social constructivism Based on Sismondo (1996, pp. 67, 79) and Sayer (1992, pp. 3984). Hynek and Teti 174 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 positing their existence provides the best explanation of behaviour (Lipton, 1991). As with empiricism, scientific realism is epistemologically divided into nave (common-sense) (2A) and constructivist (critical) (2B) variants (Varela and Harre , 1996). 4 Whereas the former largely brackets the impact of scientists upon knowledge creation, the latter acknowledges the importance of perception and cognition, and the active role scientists play (Sellars, 1970; Outhwaite, 1998). The epistemological axis emphasizes differences between empiricist and scientific realist perspectives on truth. Although constructivist empiricists (van Fraassen, 1980) argue that sciences aim is to produce empirically adequate theories and that this adequacy should determine a theorys acceptance, scientific realists aim to portray reality as it is, accepting a theory only if it is believed to be true (Sayer, 1992; Sismondo, 1996). Before the third position is outlined, the distinction between fundamental physical reality and social reality will be addressed. Here, Kuhn and Searle both affiliated themselves with constructivist realism (2B). Describing himself as an unconvinced realist, Kuhn (1979, p. 415) argues for the coexistence of social worlds constructed by scientists and the fundamental material world: transformations in social worlds leave the fundamental world unaffected because ontology is mind-independent. Analogously, Searle argues that [w]e live in exactly one world, not two or three or seventeen (1995, p. xi), undermining a monist stance by distinguishing between fundamental material reality and social realities. Searles affinity to constructivist realism is clear in his defence of scientific realism and the correspondence theory of truth (ibid., Chapter 9). In the final position, social constructivism (also constructivism or constructionism, 3B), actors are argued to have both ontological and epistemic influence, with more radical versions verging on the epistemic fallacy conflating the two. Because the existence of both physical and social objects depends on thoughts and linguistic structures (ontological mind- dependence), scientists cannot construct knowledge about these outside their own ontological representations. The point is not to deny the existence of material reality, as critics sometimes suggest, but to focus on the consequenti- ality of representations of that reality. Here, social constructivism differs from both Searlian and scientific realism: its anti-essentialism and anti- foundationalism means truth cannot be discovered, but is created (Sayyid and Zac, 1998, pp. 250251). Intellectual roots Although roots of IR Constructivisms are richer than this account can render, its inspirations can be divided into two major tracks: one internal to Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 175 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Anglophone IR, and the other external, drawing on Continental philosophy and linguistics (cf. Hynek, 2005). Internal inspiration emerged autonomously from external developments during the late 1980s. The reason for this isolation, as Ashley (1987; cf. Hoffman, 1987) suggests, was the belief of (mainly US) (neo)realist and (neo)liberal IR scholars in the unique position, value and exclusivity of their approaches for policy makers, enhanced by their aim to provide technical knowledge (manipulation and control) and practical knowledge (scripts for tackling real situations). Despite his behaviouralist commitments, the scholar whose study of transnational security communities transcended this produc- tion was Karl Deutsch (1957). His insights into the formation of North Atlantic collective identity influenced early self-declared Constructivists (for example Adler and Barnett, 1998). One of his students, Hayward Alker, influenced several scholars in Constructivisms first wave, from Katzenstein, to Ashley and Onuf (who introduced the term Constructivism in IR in 1989). Comparably important was Ernst Haas (1958) liberal/neo-functionalist analysis of complex social learning and of supra-national organizations and their bureaucracies and cultures in (re)producing the fabric of world politics. Haas work profoundly influenced his student, John Ruggie, who, with Kratochwil (for example Kratochwil and Ruggie, 1986), challenged the lack of reflexivity and the incompatibility of ontology and epistemology in regime theory. Ruggie (1998), Kratochwil (1989) and Onuf (1989) also made important contributions in overcoming IRs intellectual isolation, drawing on authors such as Weber, Wittgenstein, Searle and Giddens. The most significant contribution to contemporary Constructivism as a distinct approach was made by Alexander Wendt, a representative of the Minnesota School. Wendt wrote several papers in the late 1980s and 1990s, further elaborated in his Social Theory (1999; see also 1987, 1992). His systemic approach represented a kind of structural idealism (Wendt, 1999, p. xiii), and has become, criticism notwithstanding, a benchmark for IR Constructivism. We emphasize the multiplicity of Constructivisms because Wendts version, drawing on an eclectic literature, primarily Giddenss and later Bhaskars, is very different to Onuf and Kratochwils approach. Indeed, Onuf (2001, p. 10) acknowledges that neither his nor Kratochwils founding texts much influenced IR Constructivism. Constructivisms external inspiration was rooted in critical social and political theory, and found its way into IR during the so-called Third Debate (the 1980s and early 1990s). Although critical social and political theory is highly diverse, it can be subdivided into a minimal foundationalist current drawing on cultural Marxism, and an anti-foundational and anti-essentialist current drawing on Continental philosophy and linguistics (cf. Hoffman, 1991; Price and Reus-Smit, 1998). Andrew Linklater (1990) and Robert Cox Hynek and Teti 176 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 (1983) are prominent scholars drawing on the Frankfurt School and Gramsci, respectively. The second, more radical current is epitomized by Ashley (1986), Der Derian (1987, with Shapiro, 1989), Campbell (1998 [1992]) and Walker (1993). The end of the Cold War and the Neo-Neo Synthesis inability to account for this macrostructural change provided a symbolic point of convergence between internal and external strands attempts to debunk the myth of objectivism (Hoffman, 1987). In the early 1990s, however, little indicated Constructivisms future intellectual preponderance. Scattered patches of Constructivist thought were largely ignored: the Third Debate, a set of exchanges directing attention to metatheoretical questions, did not involve Constructivism. Rather, Constructivisms distinct identity was created in the wake of the philosophical turn: the rest of this paper sketches key practices and events through which the discourse over Constructivism was shaped, particularly in relation to mainstream Neo-utilitarian IR. Genealogies of Normalization I: Classification, Distillation and Immunization Foundational elements of IR Constructivism were presented above as they are in the literature: a straightforward, if complex, intellectual history. The remainder of this paper considers a series of debates around which the narrative of Constructivism and its relation to mainstream and to Postmodern/ Post-structural scholarship have been built, analysing the way those debates were articulated, and how their results provided the backbone of what Constructivism is now commonly held to entail. This analysis suggests that the modalities and implications of this process are broader than an intellectual history identifies, effectively leading to the immunization of Neo-utilitarian IR against Postmodern/Post-structural critiques, and thus Constructivisms normalization (see Figure 1). This section analyses the taxonomical debates over Constructivisms ontological, epistemological and methodological commitments. These are crucial to what is accepted as Constructivism: despite being highly problematic in terms of PoSS, the accepted solutions to these debates, through a series of blind spots, help skew IRs discursive economy against radical critiques, effectively immunizing mainstream IR. Once Neo-utilitarian IR appropriated a certain understanding of Constructivism, it could also claim to have dealt with the reflexivist challenge: Constructivism, after all, provides the identity variable. Nowhere is this clearer than in debates about Constructivisms compatibility with Pragmatism and Realism. Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 177 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 F i g u r e 1 : G e n e a l o g i c a l t o p o g r a p h y o f C o n s t r u c t i v i s m s . Hynek and Teti 178 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Given the similarities between Constructivisms and Postmodernist/Post- structuralist ontological foundations (Table 1; 3B), simply deploying late-1980s Constructivism alongside Neo-utilitarianism (1A-B, 2A-B) would be impos- sible. The proliferation of debates over the nature of Constructivism throughout the 1990s was integral to its reconciliation with mainstream scholarship. This construction of Constructivism, took place in two stages: in the first, what appeared to be a purely taxonomical exercise was inextricably linked to a distillation of Constructivism, which immunized Neo-utilitarian- ism by effectively delegitimizing Postmodern/Post-structural critiques. At times, the intention of many Constructivists particularly Wendtian to save identity from postmodernism was openly declared (for example Checkel, 1998). Classifying Construcitivism, securing what scholarship may be so labelled, was essential to this process. The second stage involved debates over building particular theoretical formulations upon these foundations for example, Pragmatist or Realist Constructivism broadly securing the neutralization of Constructivisms radical potential by locating it firmly within the social scientific consensus. Disciplinary politics of taxonomy Ruggies (1998, pp. 3536) seminal paper identifies three kinds of Constructi- vism: neo-classical, post-modernist and naturalistic. Neo-classical Construc- tivism, language-oriented but committed to social science, is identified with authors such as Onuf, Kratochwil, Finnemore, Adler and so on. Post- modernist Constructivism supposedly builds on Nietzsche, Foucault and Derrida, and rejects the idea of social science. Finally, naturalist Con- structivists such as Wendt, use Bhaskars scientific realism to defend a deep realism which might legitimize scientific approaches. In Ruggie, the Postmodern/Post-structural critics of mainstream IR still feature clearly, although the sequence of Constructivisms suggests a dialectical overcoming of these critiques that saves social science for mainstream IR. Another hugely successful taxonomy distinguishes between conventional and critical Constructivism (Hopf, 1998). 5 Rooted in the internal strand outlined above, the former has largely been considered by Constructivists themselves a result of seeds sown during the Cold War. By identifying Critical Constructivism with a postmodernism with which dialogue is supposedly impossible either epistemologically or indeed morally, however, this bipolar taxonomy delegitimizes Postmodern/Post-structural scholarship. Hopf argues Constructivism was miscast as necessarily postmodern and antipositivist, because conventional Constructivism, despite sharing many of the founda- tional elements of critical theory, [adopts] defensible rules of thumb, or Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 179 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 conventions, rather than following critical theory all the way up the postmodern critical path (1998, p. 181) and that to the degree that constructivism creates theoretical and epistemological distance between itself and its origins in critical theory, it becomes conventional constructivism (ibid., p. 181). This representation of Postmodern/Post-structural scholarship implies that work which rejects rationalist rules of thumb is indefensible, and recreates an opposition between social scientific Neo-utilitarianism and Postmodernism/Post-structuralism which, since the epistemic criteria adopted to adjudicate the viability of Constructivism are rationalist, delegitimizes non- positivist scholarship (for example Keohane, 1986; Katzenstein et al, 1998; cf. Smith, 2003, p. 142). Drawing a distinction within the broad body of Constructivism between variously named critical and conventional approaches immediately raises the question of the relation of each to IRs mainstream indeed, the terminology itself only makes sense taking Neo-utilitarian IR as its point of reference. Unsurprisingly, whereas critical or postmodern Constructivism was attacked for supposed incompatibility with social science, Constructivisms emphasis on that very identity, which Neo-utilitarianism was unable to account for, motivated many to argue that a Constructivism existed, which criticized not what [mainstream] scholars do and say but what they ignore: the content and source of state interests and social fabric of world politics (Checkel, 1998, p. 324). Thus, Checkel defends a conventional Constructivism compatible with social science (ibid., p. 327), whereas Wendt (1999, p. 75) distinguishes between thick linguistic and thin social scientific Constructivism. Although these classifications may be more accurate in terms of some scholars self-identification Walker or Ashley would hardly consider themselves Constructivists they are also more intellectually loaded, implying Constructivism should not be understood as Postmodern/Post-structural in any guise (Campbell, 1998 [1992], Epilogue). As such, Neo-utilitarianisms repre- sentation of the field not only suggests that no Postmodern/Post-structural approaches can qualify as interlocutors, as they reject the idea that the study of (international) politics can be scientific (Keohane, 1986), but also marginalizes non-Wendtian Constructivisms incompatible with a Neo-utilitarian mould. 6 By excluding Postmodern/Post-structural scholarship per se, critical Constructivism becomes limited to Onuf, Kratochwil and their followers. But such a bipolar representation also neutralizes the radical potential of the latter, as it must either accept the bounds of social science, moving towards conventional approaches, or reject them, thereby disqualifying itself from inter-paradigmatic dialogue. 7 This polarization therefore has the disciplinary effect of de-legitimizing postmodern critiques as unscientific if not downright unscholarly, 8 and reduces other potentially critical Constructivist voices to a loyal opposition, providing at best a thick description of norms backing up Hynek and Teti 180 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 thinner versions. Rooted in the elision of ontological differences between Constructivism and Neo-utilitarianism, the demarcation between modern/ critical and postmodern/critical Constructivism polices the boundary of acceptable research, contributing to the immunization of mainstream IR against Postmodern/Post-structural critiques. From boundaries to bridges Attempts to find a unity of Constructivism have therefore involved presenting it as homogeneous, and substantially continuous with (and complementary to) mainstream IR. Conducted under the rubric of several devices most significantly the metaphor of Constructivism as a bridge between IR social science and its critics this quest enables a simultaneous distillation of a certain kind of Constructivism, and the immunization of mainstream IR through its purported compatibility with this Constructivism, erecting a fence between Constructivism proper and everything beyond its margins, that is, critical Constructivism and especially Postmodernism/Post-structuralism. Given early Constructivisms ontological commitments (3B), it should be clear that whether this distillation is at all possible is far from obvious. One explanation for how this might have occurred lies in what Foucault calls the principle of commentary. Foucault (1984, pp. 76100) distinguishes between the principal discourse and the mass of commentaries: the principal discourse a new speech act is always original and inventive, whereas commentaries claim to repeat and gloss what has allegedly been pronounced in the principal discourse. However, this repetition can be rather different from what might have originally been intended. In this case, if commentaries are taken as accurate representations of primary sources and these are simultaneously dropped from debate, commentary limits interpretive possibi- lities, channelling discourse in certain directions whereas precluding others. This took place at several junctures in Constructivisms case, with a series of supposedly crucial references Giddens, Searle, Wittgenstein, Foucault, Rorty and so on being notably absent from the debates they supposedly inform save in their earliest days, and very marginally even then (see Figure 2). Coupled with the disciplinary politics of taxonomy described above, the bridge metaphor facilitated such a swap. The original principal Constructivist discourse represented by Onuf, Kratochwil and Wendt, particularly its double hermeneutic implications, faded into the background through exposure to Constructivism as presented by commentaries secondary sources (for example Adler, 1997, 2003; Checkel, 1997, 1998; Hopf, 1998; Katzenstein et al, 1998; Smith, 2001) that eventually supplanted primary discourse. It was through precisely such commentaries that Constructivism came to be Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 181 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 understood as an unproblematic continuation of social science, that it has repeatedly been judged by objectivist criteria, and that everything lying farther than modern critical Constructivism, with its role of separating the acceptable from the unacceptable, has been marginalized (cf. Price and Reus-Smit, 1998; Guzzini, 2000). The metaphor of Constructivism-as-bridge between Neo-utilitarianism and Postmodernism/Post-structuralism facilitates this distillation of Constructivism in three moments: first, the mainstream definition of knowledge as science during the Third Debate and the predication of inter-paradigmatic dialogue in rationalist epistemologies effectively silences radical critiques, Constructi- vist or otherwise (for example Campbell, 1998). Second, the combination of dichotomizing taxonomies of Constructivism with its location as potential inter-paradigmatic bridge distills it, emptying it of critical potential, and foregrounds continuities with Neo-utilitarianism (epistemic and methodo- logical commitments, the states ontological privilege and so on). Finally, this definition of knowledge also enabled the development of bridges compatible with Neo-utilitarianism such as Pragmatist or Realist Constructivism. In this sense, mainstreaming Constructivism immunizes Neo-utilitarianism from both Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques and from Constructivisms own ontology. Genealogies of Normalization II: Neutralizations by New Reconstructions Whatever their intellectual merits, these debates effectively neutralized the radical potential entailed by Constructivisms ontologico-epistemological Figure 2: Principal discourses and commentaries (based on Foucault, 1984). Hynek and Teti 182 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 commitments (Figure 1; 3B). A discursive economy rooted in these readings of social science could not but de-legitimize a non-positivist scholarship that rejected the possibility of quests for timeless wisdoms. But this balance of blindnesses remained delicate. What stabilized it and legitimized the bridging function to which Constructivism was assigned was the elaboration of theoretical constructs upon these mainstreamed foundations. Two notable efforts in this direction were the invocation of Pragmatism to emphasize the compatibility between Constructivism and social science (Cochran, 2002) and defend Wendtian commitments to states (Haas and Haas, 2002; Widmaier, 2004), and the theorization of a Realist Constructi- vism. Reading philosophical Pragmatism as an epistemic stance bypassed dangerous debates over Constructivist ontological foundations: Pragmatisms pragmatism effectively rendered Constructivisms ontological compatibility with Neo-utilitarianism unproblematic. And Realist Constructivism silenced Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques by providing the identity variable. Pragmatist constructivism as an indirect neutralization That Pragmatism was concerned with practical interventions is straight- forward: why and how this entails Constructivisms compatibility with Neo-utilitarianism is less so. A considerable component of this appropriation relies simply on the association if not conflation of Pragmatism and pragmatism, associating Pragmatism with practicality, claiming Pragmatism- as-pragmatism as philosophical legitimization of mainstreamed readings of Constructivism. This conflation, or at least resemblance between terms is present in Widmaier (2004), where Pragmatism supposedly corrects the abstract excesses of both Neo-utilitarianism and Postmodernism/Post-struc- turalism for the explicit purpose of policy relevance. Both Widmaier and Millenniums 2002 special issue use the lower case when referring both to Pragmatism-as-philosophy and to pragmatism-as-practicality, giving rise to ambiguity concerning what is meant (Pragmatist? pragmatic? both?). Widmaier does this arguing that Deweys and Galbraiths strength was that they were both worldly and scholarly, engaged in theoretical debates while also pursuing policy agendas (2004, p. 443), emphasizing Pragmatisms potential for practical political engagement. Albert and Kopp-Malek (2002) explicitly argue for a non-capital-p-pragmatism. Haas and Haas (2002) carefully distinguish between international relations and International Relations, but ambigu- ously label their approach simply pragmatic constructivism, whereas Bohman (2002) and Owen (2002) declare this association of meanings in their titles: How to make Social Science Practical: Pragmatism, Critical Social Science and Multiperspectival Theory and Re-Orienting International Relations: On Pragmatism, Pluralism and Practical Reasoning (emphasis added). Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 183 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Haas and Haas (2002) and Widmaier (2004) provide archetypical examples of the appropriation of Pragmatism supporting mainstreamed Constructivism. Widmaier calls for Pragmatism as an underpinning for Wendtian Constructi- vism, 9 calling Dewey a pragmatist proto-constructivist (2004, pp. 428, 432, 436, 438). Yet, these appropriations are themselves if anything more pragmatic than Pragmatist. Widmaiers (2004) pragmatist-constructivism and Haas and Haas (2002) pragmatic constructivism sound similar, but the latter proposal for Pragmatist Constructivism seems barely nominal, based merely on passing references to Rorty and Menand. Neumann (2002) shifts the emphasis even further, never invoking Pragmatism (aside from a solitary footnote mentioning Peirce), never claiming to contribute to that intellectual tradition, and focusing entirely and explicitly on the virtues of practice-grounded analysis. The very inclusion of this paper in a special issue about capital-p-Pragmatism implies that Pragmatism and pragmatism are one and the same. Pragmatists clearly always thought the political dimension of philosophy important, and to the extent that they realized the intractability of foundational and epistemological questions and side-stepped some of them, they were also practical, both academically and politically. But advocating avoiding dogmatism means little beyond what should be canons of good scholarship conversely, being practical does not make one a Pragmatist. Moreover, although there is a legitimate overlap between the two terms rooted in the origins and political as well as epistemological project of Pragmatism, their distinction and its disciplinary politics are equally important. Resolving the ambiguity around both uses of pragmatism in Millenniums special issue required little effort: adopting lower or higher cases for the two meanings, for example. Blurring the Pragmatism/pragmatism boundary, whether intentionally or not, effectively produces a linguistic gambit: the mainstream particularly Realist infatuation with being pragmatic makes the meliorative reform of Pragmatism as an addition to Constructivism difficult to object to, despite its implications being potentially far-reaching and indeed not dissimilar to those of more explicitly radical Postmodern/Post-structural critiques (Albert and Kopp- Malek, 2002, p. 469, fn. 38). This is the implication of work by Bohman, Cochran, Festenstein and Isacoff. However, this opening has also been used by other authors Haas and Haas, Albert and Kopp-Malek, Owen, Widmaier, and Neumann to deflect radical critiques by invoking Pragmatism/pragmatism in defence of an only slightly modified mainstream position (for example Wendt or Checkel) thereby indirectly (and at least in some cases, unintentionally) neutralizing Constructivism and bringing it closer to mainstream IR. Pragmatism is also used by some to argue explicitly for an understanding of Constructivism, compatible with Neo-utilitarianism and squarely within Wendts via media. Millenniums editorial offered a candid statement echoing many of Constructivisms mantras: Pragmatism affords the possibility of Hynek and Teti 184 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 overcoming the stalemate opposing positivism and post-positivism, and IRs fixation with absolute and exclusive ontological solutions by [encouraging] a multi-perspectival style of inquiry that privileges practice and benefits from the complementarity, rather than opposition, of different understandings (Haas and Haas, 2002, p. iii). Specifically: Pragmatism explicitly anchors social science (and IR) to a notion of community of inquiry, of agents and gears research to the idea of its betterment (ibid., p. iii). Through Pragmatism, those refusing to follow critical theory all the way up the postmodern path can simultaneously claim a legitimate disregard for ontology and an acknowledgement of the importance of identity while having to sacrifice neither social science, nor the objective moral purchase it promises. Several contributors echo this stance, such as Haas and Haas, who argue that incommensurate ontological and epistemological positions [y] fundamentally impair the ability to develop cumulative knowledge about international institutions and their role in international relations (ibid., p. 573). Analo- gously, claiming that Constructivism is in fact a form of constructivist realism (2B), Adler (2003, p. 96) states that one of the four main influences on Constructivism is Pragmatism. Whether one draws on classical Pragmatists or on Neo-pragmatists, however, this move to associate Pragmatism, Constructivism and Neo-utilitarianism is problematic. Classical Pragmatists Peirce, William James, Dewey, Austin argue truth is never a priori, always provisional, always context-specific, and therefore must be judged solely on its usefulness in achieving some purpose. Moreover, Pragmatists do not believe one can talk about a world external to language, the implication being that agents build knowledge from different standpoints and in order to change the world in different ways: hence, social ontologies must be fluid. Neo-pragmatism builds particularly on Dewey and James, emphasizing the language-dependent nature of claims to knowledge, that the world can be described correctly from multiple perspectives, and that therefore an ideas truth is dependent on its context and usefulness, and cannot indicate anything beyond this. Putnam (1990) and Rorty (1979, 1991) conclude that science does not and cannot possess a privileged vantage point upon reality. Moreover, although Putnam and Rorty disagree on the extent to which the external world provides some constraint on truth Putnam trying to rescue some such dimension, Rorty opposing this Neo-pragmatists are committed to the idea that the social world is changeable, and all Pragmatists remain sceptical of transcendental claims. Against this background, some readings of Pragmatism offered in Millenniums special issue are puzzling. Pragmatism is used to address ontological and epistemological tensions arising from Neo-utilitarian attempts to counter Postmodern/Post-structural critiques by assimilating Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 185 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Constructivism. Although Pragmatism generally eschews ontological claims while arguing that it is possible to proceed accumulating valid knowledge and acting upon the world meaningfully despite this knowledge being only temporarily valid, it nonetheless sits decidedly ill at ease with conventional Constructivism. Firstly, Pragmatism rejects that ontological realism character- istic of much Neo-utilitarianism which transpires declared or otherwise in criticism of Postmodern/Post-structural theories of power as inadequate because they do not reflect the realities of politics. This anti-realism leads Pragmatists to reject questions of essences sovereign, anarchic and so on emphasizing that both questions and essences or indeed foundations are inevitably context-dependent, subjective, programmatic and transformative. There can be no timeless wisdom, Realist or otherwise. Secondly, Pragmatism also rejects the idea that Neo-utilitarianism somehow accesses a superior form of knowledge. Most Pragmatists do not believe science succeeds because it is in touch with reality in privileged ways, with Rorty (1998, p. 48) arguing that concepts of truth, objectivity and reality cannot be invoked to explain inferential references or standards of warrant. Finally, Neo-utilitarian social sciences promise to retrieve spatio-temporally invariant and observer- independent law-like generalizations relies crucially on the fixity of the properties of the objects it analyses: if either Constructivists or Pragmatists are right about the fluidity of ontology, this project becomes impossible. This is not to say social scientific methods cannot generate knowledge, but espousing Pragmatism renders indefensible claims about its spatio-temporally invariant and observer-neutral status. Given this fundamental tension between Neo-utilitarianism and the implications of a fluid ontology in Constructivism or indeed Pragmatism, it is unsurprising that Pragmatism has been read by some as offering the possibility of eschewing ontology entirely, and, at an epistemological level, of requiring that regardless of their coherence, ideas should simply work in order to legitimize their use. Nonetheless, the use of Pragmatism to ground a reconciliation between Neo-utilitarianism and Constructivisms radical implications remains unsustainable. Realist (Re)construction as a direct neutralization As noted above, the taxonomical division between critical and conventional Constructivisms immunize mainstream IR insofar as it raises the question of Constructivisms direct relation to Neo-utilitarian IR and sets up the answer by delegitimizing non-positivist solutions. To the degree this discursive economy is unstable, appropriate interparadigmatic theoretical elaborations help mask the precarious nature of Neo-utilitarianisms solution. Virtually simultaneously Hynek and Teti 186 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 to the taxonomical debate and the foray into Pragmatism, a considerable interest in Constructivisms liberalism and a possible convergence with Realism emerged. Following the trajectory which led to Realist Constructi- vism is particularly instructive (for example Checkel, 1998; Copeland, 2000; Sterling-Folker, 2000, 2002a, b; Farrell, 2002; Barkin, 2003; Hamlet, 2003; Jackson, 2004; Jackson and Nexon, 2004). Some, like Copeland, argue that Constructivists focus on the intersubjective dimension of knowledge, because they wish to emphasize the social aspect of human existence [allowing] constructivists to pose [shared ideas] as a causal force separate from the material structure of neorealism (2000, pp. 189190). Similarly, Farrell suggests that the realization that identities are causal with respect to action leads constructivists and culturalists to problematize that which realists and neoliberals take for granted, like identities and interests (2002, p. 52). Farrell also emphasizes that a common realist misconception about constructivism [is] that it lacks a positivist epistemology but has a normative agenda (2002, p. 51). Others explicitly argue that, as a theoretical framework rather than a substantive theory, Constructivism is compatible with several theories, including Realism: Jepperson et al argue that Constructivism neither advances nor depends upon any special methodology or epistemology (in Jepperson et al., 1996, p. 65); Kratochwil and Ruggie add that it is compatible with a positivist epistemology (ibid., p. 81), soon echoed by Checkel (1998, p. 327), whereas Barkin (2003, p. 338) argues that neither pure realism nor pure idealism [sic] can account for political change, only the interplay between the two (ibid., p. 337). Sterling-Folker (2002a) goes so far as to argue that Realism and Constructivism share Darwinian foundations. Soon after, explicit suggestions appear that a Realist Constructivism should be formulated (Sterling-Folker, 2002a; Barkin, 2003; Jackson, 2004). These analyses prepare the discursive grounds for the legitimacy of a RealistConstructivist convergence. Beyond being possible, such an approach should also be desirable, and it is not difficult to find arguments that such Realist Constructivism could contribute to analysis in several ways: Sterling-Folker (2002a, p. 75), for example, argues Realism and Constructivism need one another in order to compensate for their worst excesses. With regard to power, Realist Con- structivism could fill a gap between mainstream and critical theory by including in any exploration of power, not only postmodern theorys study of the subjective text and positivist realisms study of objective phenomena, but also constructivisms study of intersubjectivity norms and social rules (Barkin, 2003, p. 338). This would involve guiding scholars to think like a classical realist about the variety of power while guiding [them] to analyze the role of that power in international political life like a constructivist (Mattern, 2004, p. 345). Realist Constructivism would concede that anarchy [may be] a social construction while remaining sceptical about the degree to which power can be transcended Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 187 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 (Jackson and Nexon, 2004, p. 339). Moreover, Realist Constructivism would furnish Realism with a richer understanding of identity, change and of the interplay of power and normative change (Barkin, 2003, p. 337) while helping Constructivism compensate for its liberal bias (ibid., p. 326). This formulation, however, is flawed both logically and in its representations of Neo-utilitarianism and Postmodernism/Post-structuralism. To ground the RealistConstructivist convergence, Barkin (2003, pp. 330331) characterizes Neo-realism as logical positivism, conflates the latter with Positivism, then claims that Classical Realism is empiricist, and that as such it is compatible with Constructivism. This disregards Neo-utilitarian commitments to the existence and fixity of a social reality external to and independent of observers, and to the possibility of socio-political spatio-temporally invariant law-like generalizations. On these grounds, logical positivism, empiricism and main- stream IR might agree, but these are precisely the positions that Constructi- visms ontology are incompatible with. For example, Matterns (2004, p. 345) own argument that Realist Constructivism should recognize international politics intersubjectively and culturally constituted ontology implies re- opening precisely the question of Constructivisms ontological difference from Neo-utilitarian IR, yet she goes on to advocate and develop Realist Constructivism untroubled. If Constructivism is about anything, it is not simply identity, but about the fluidity of ontology deriving directly from identitys mutually constituted inter-subjectivity. Despite this, the analyses above invariably take Constructi- vism as a methodological or epistemological standpoint. This does not mean that Kratochwil, Ruggie or others are mistaken about the compatibility of such an ontology with Neo-utilitarian epistemology or methods (for example Farrell, 2002, p. 51). Quantitative methods are not incompatible with an ontology that gives causal weight to cultural variables, but the changeable nature of those cultural variables is incompatible with claims to timeless wisdoms: it is the status ascribed to the results of enquiry which is the core of the Neo-utilitarianPostmodern/Post-structuralist divide. Yet Realist Constructivism represents nothing if not the aim of retaining the spatio- temporal invariance of laws and observer-neutrality. The possibility and primacy of these epistemic aims constitutes precisely the Neo-utilitarian Postmodern/Post-structuralist disagreement, which genuinely challenges the possibility of inter-paradigmatic dialogue (for example Teti, 2007). Moreover, in debates about Constructivism this dividing line seems to have migrated from the demarcation of boundaries between Neo-utilitarian IR and Constructivism per se to a distinction between critical and conventional Constructivism. The importance of this migration is that by mainstreaming Constructivism, it effectively reinforces Neo-utilitarianism rather than challenge it, neutralizing precisely Constructivisms most radical implications. Hynek and Teti 188 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 That a research programme be capable of incorporating new theses, methods or research foci is generally a sign of strength, but questions should be asked when those new elements are accepted despite starkly contradicting programmes core. Nor were these debates over the Neo-utilitarianPostmodern/Post-structur- alist divide unprecedented upon Constructivisms emergence in the late 1980s: they were central to the Philosophical Turn. In fact, recent claims about the importance of social scientific approaches crucial to the quest for Constructivist/Neo-utilitarian convergence strikingly echo Keohanes (1986) call that scientific testing adjudicate between rationalism and reflectivism. Moving away from questions of foundations, there are several other features of the emergence of Realist Constructivism that deserve attention. Reprising the familiar Realist Leitmotiv of Liberalism here reincarnated as Constructivism as a well-meaning but nave and woolly minded and in any case analytically inadequate attempt to transcend power, idealist in the derogatory sense, has proven particularly popular. This leads some advocates of Realist Constructivism to rather odd conclusions. Mattern, for example, infers that postmodernism is unable to conceive power except as passively enacted through social relationships, missing those variegated forms of expression and productive dimensions that would allow an understanding of power [as] a question to be investigated, not a variable or process to be accounted for whereas Realist Constructivism considers how specific actors wield different forms of power (authority, force, care, and so on) through different expressions (linguistic, symbolic, material, and so on) to produce different social realities (Mattern, 2004, p. 345). Attempts to berate Postmodern/Post-structural scholarship on these grounds are rather ironic, because the key criticism levelled at Neo-utilitarianism is precisely its limited, unreflective conception of power. Another vital aspect of Realist Constructivisms emergence relates to its role in the politics of Constructivisms relations with mainstream IR. Farrell (2002), virtually alone among those advocating the possibility of dialogue with Neo-utilitarianism, explicitly acknowledges the politics of relations between the two, suggesting these pivot essentially on what posture Constructivists take viz. Neo-utilitarianism, friend or foe. For example, in response to Price and Reus-Smit (1998), who note the shared roots of Constructivist approaches in critical political theory and argue for a rapprochement between critical and conventional constructivists rather than with the Neo-utilitarian mainstream, Farrell (2002, p. 60) cautions that this risks incurring dismissal rather than engagement. This is a recognition that the outcome of these debates which, as Farrell notes, could be crucial to Constructivisms very survival has at least as much to do with perceptions about intellectual and political commitments as with argumentation per se. In the context of a debate which, Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 189 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 although foregrounding the causal importance of ideas and their relation with power, manages to ignore self-reflection on how it goes about constructing itself, this is a welcome exception. However, it cannot lessen the striking parallel between this (Realist) Constructivist silence and its counterpart in debates about Pragmatism. This section has examined additional disciplinary consequences of taxono- mical polarization in debates on Constructivism, noting how it enables a non- ontological interpretation of Constructivism as focused on ideas. This implies a division of labour between Realisms materialist focus and Constructivisms idealism, complementarity rather than antagonism, making it virtually impossible for Constructivism to present any substantive challenge. In this sense, the selective articulation of a Constructivist/Neo-utilitarian convergence responds to the Constructivist challenge by eliding its ontological roots. Having accepted with little substantial modification mainstream epistemic standards, de-legitimizing non-Neo-utilitarian epistemologies, this conver- gence can only subsume Constructivism within the paradigm it sought to undermine, as provider of the identity variable. This focus on epistemology and methodology, however, cannot exorcize the implications of the duality of structure: in trying to save identity from postmodernists (Checkel, 1998, p. 327) the emperor has acquired decidedly ill-fitting new clothes. Blind spots The emerging consensus sketched above is far from logically coherent: it involves indeed, requires blind spots, such as the lack of reflexivity in analysing its own ontological, epistemic, methodological and political commitments. These blind spots are themselves integral to the mainstreaming of Constructivism. Two key blind spots are related to the intersubjectivity and co- constitutiveness of Constructivist ontology. The first is a surprising absence from the literature. If one of the hallmarks of Constructivism is the notion of co-constitution agency and structure, Constructivists themselves have focused on discourse, largely ignoring the material, whereas one might have said that the true promise of Constructivism was its double co-constitutiveness, the analysis of the co-constitution of both material and ideational structure and agency. This blind spot facilitated branding Constructivism as idealist both in the limited sense of dealing with ideas alone, and in the pejorative sense typical of Realism, which notoriously creates a narrative that uses the rhetorical device of dichotomization to set itself up as the standard of prudent statecraft against the utopianism of idealists (Lynch, 1999, p. 59; also: Steele, 2007, p. 28). Wendt himself explicitly distinguished Constructivism from Hynek and Teti 190 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Liberalism precisely because, since Carr, Idealist has functioned in IR primarily as an epithet for navete and utopianism (1999, p. 33). To the extent that idealism signifies a focus on ideas, this label facilitated an interpretation of its relation to Neo-utilitarianism as one of complementarity rather than antagonism. A second blind spot is the decreasing concern for Constructivisms early ontological claims. During the 1990s, Constructivists seemed to systematically shift/de-emphasize ontological commitments: indeed, the debate about Constructivisms relation to mainstream IR particularly around Realist Constructivism bypasses ontology virtually entirely (cf. Reus-Smit, 2002, p. 493). Wendt, IRs most influential expounder of PoSS during the 1990s, provides the best example of this: although his earlier work carefully outlined the implications of a structurationist ontology for agent-structure co- constitution, he later abandons Giddens ontology and its double hermeneutic implications (3B) for Bhaskars scientific realism (2B). Moreover, Wendts later commitment to positivism (I am a positivist; 1999, p. 39) conflates two ontologically incompatible positions: constructivist empiricism (1B) and constructivist realism (2B). Simultaneously, his shifting emphasis towards epistemology obscures ontological discrepancies, highlighting shared epistemic commitments, implying that a Constructivist scientific project is possible. Similarly, Adler attempts to equate constructivist realism (2B) and IR Constructivism via Searle and the Pragmatists. Despite acknowledging Pragmatisms ontological agnosticism Adler (2003, p. 97) argues that since [a]ll strands of constructivism converge on an ontology that depicts the social world (ibid., p. 100), [s]ome differences between Wendt and his critics may be reconciled by pragmatist realism [y] Contra Smith, we need a realist ontology [y] Contra Wendt, however, we need a pragmatist epistemology (ibid., p. 107), thereby effectively transferring Constructivism from 3B to 2B. Thus, the reconciliation of social science with identitys constructedness can be predicated on retaining the latter while taking state identity as given, coherent, non-contradictory and before context (Adler, 1997; Wendt, 1999; cf. Zehfuss, 2001): when Checkel indicates what challenges face conventional, and mostly positivist constructivists (2004, p. 239) he omits ontology, arguing that the most important task is to adjudicate whether persuasion or deliberation are key causal mechanisms of preference change (see Figure 3). Thus, the implications of Constructivisms structurationist ontology end up neutralized either through some ontological privilege for the state, or by arguing that states behave as if their identity were fixed. Either way, states ontological fixity or epistemic privilege remains incompatible with claims that identities and attendant political practices are spatio-temporally variable. This neutralization of ontology crucially affects debates about relations between positivism and its others, specifically whether Constructivism can Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 191 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 provide a via media, because on these grounds, echoing Keohanes 1986 ISA Presidential Address, it becomes possible to predicate dialogue on those very social scientific grounds that are the bone of contention. It is therefore unsurprising that Wendt alone has been taken as watermark of Constructivism in bridge-building attempts (Steele, 2007, p. 30) not because he alone is sympathetic to Neo-utilitarianism (cf. Kratochwil, 1988), but because, unlike Onuf or Kratochwil, his (later) ontological commitments do not raise the issue of the status of the knowledge generated through Neo-utilitarian epistemologies applied to changeable ontological foundations. A third, related blindness is the paucity of reflections on how these analyses are themselves inextricable from particular normative commitments (and their reproduction). Despite focusing on language games and knowl- edge-praxis relations in agents, Constructivists fail to analyse the linkage between power, identity and knowledge by reflecting on the process of (their own) knowledge production. This should be especially surprising given Wendts hugely popular use of Giddens (1984, pp. 3233, 348), who explicitly argues that a double hermeneutic flows directly from the duality of structure. By contrast, Pragmatists, like Post-structuralists, engage with precisely such questions. Rorty (1982) argues that one must ask not What is the essence of such-and-such a problem? but What sort of vocabulary, what image of man, would produce such problems? What does the persistence of such problems show us about being twentieth-century Europeans? Pragmatism provides an unambiguously politicized answer to these questions, recognizing that observation and knowledge cannot be neutral, fixed or objective, but are always for someone and for something (Bohman, 2002, pp. 500501, fn 1), both insofar as observers come to a problem from a particular background and agenda, and because their actions are transformative of reality. The silence on the politics of knowledge production, despite the supposed critical turn that Constructivism affords mainstream IR, is deafening. Figure 3: The politics of redrawing boundaries: Re-positioning of constructivism from PoSS to IR. Hynek and Teti 192 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 How has the debate over Constructivism avoided such issues, and how have such blind spots been sustained over time? The answer is linked to the portrayal of Constructivism as a Neo-utilitarian undertaking in two ways. First, because the scientific method supposedly provides a self-correcting epistemological mechanism, attention to the knowledge production process becomes ultimately redundant. Second, because the dichotomized ontological logic that assumes into reality a distinction between a realm of empiricist fact and a realm of theorized knowledge (George, 1994, p. 18), which lies at the heart of mainstream IR and its associated representationalist view of language, [tend] to discourage wider reflection on [y] deep intersubjective beliefs that orient, shape and constrain the production of ideas (Deibert, 1997, p. 169) so that, contrary to Pragmatists, [n]othing social need enter into questions regarding the truth of a belief, because truth is a relation determined by a solitary subject standing in relation to an independent reality (Manicas in Deibert, 1997, p. 169). Thus, a number of questions not only go unanswered, they are never raised. These include questions of the historical origin and nature of the community-based standards which define what counts as reliable knowledge, as well as the question of the merits of those standards in the light of possible alternatives (Neufeld, 1993, p. 26). Conclusion Although it has at times been recognized that the fields history cannot be reduced to a mere sequence of ideas (Waever, 1998), IRs intellectual history has less often become the object of sustained analysis. This paper has sought to make a contribution in this direction by analysing one aspect of the fields discursive economy the emergence and disciplinary trajectories of Constructivism by applying Foucaultian archaeologico-genealogical strategy of problematization. This approach reveals how Constructivism has been drawn gradually closer to its mainstream Neo-utilitarian counterpart, and how this normalization effectively purged Constructivism of its early critical potential. The paper first showed how Constructivisms current intellectual configura- tion and its rise to disciplinary prominence are inseparable from far-from- unproblematic readings of basic problems in the Philosophy of Social Science: choices made at this level are neither as intellectually neutral nor as disciplinarily inconsequential as they are presented. The paper then charted the genealogy of early Constructivism, analysing the politics of early classificatory practices to reveal how these permitted the distillation and immunization of Constructivism against more radical Postmodernist/ Post-structuralist critiques. Finally, the paper focused attention on recent events that enabled the neutralization of this radical critical potential both Normalization of Constructivism in international relations 193 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 indirectly for example, through Pragmatist Constructivism and directly, through the formulation of Realist Constructivism. Thus, the overall normalization of Constructivism occurred in different stages, each revolving around particular debates: apparently critical alternatives that aim to provide the identity variable, in fact, remain close to Neo-utilitarianism, but their successful representation as critical helped neutralize Postmodern/Post- structuralist critiques. A striking implication of this analysis is that Constructivism, as a theoretical construction assessed against its own standards, strictly speaking does not exist. If by Constructivism one means the standpoint absorbed into main- stream IR then, as Sterling-Folker (2002a) argues, one is hard-pressed to find significant ontological, epistemological or indeed methodological differences with respect to Neo-utilitarianism. If, on the other hand, moving from early formulations of its ontology and the double hermeneutics which ensue, one takes Constructivism to entail ontological anti-foundationalism and anti- essentialism, one must recognize that such calls and such formulations are not new, but are present in more rigorous and complete ways in Postmodern/ Post-structuralist critiques. Either way, it is difficult not to conclude that Constructivism is not all it is made out to be. Yet, if Constructivism does not exist in these senses, it has certainly had a crucial impact on the field as a discursive practice: the debate over its nature has been crucial to IRs infra-disciplinary balance of intellectual power, and thus to the vision of international politics which, from this field, percolates into policy design and public debate. Although these results are necessarily partial, this paper has shown that the intellectual configuration and fortunes of Constructivism are influenced by more than the straightforward intellectual history through which mainstream IR usually tells its own story. Specifically, the theoretical moves and blind spots outlined above simultaneously produced the normalization of Con- structivism and the immunization of its more radical strands, and the silencing of Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques to Neo-utilitarianism. From this vantage point, calls for Constructivism to save identity from postmodernists (Checkel, 1998, p. 325) are clearly rooted in a blindness and selectivity in the elaboration of contemporary Social Scientific forms of Constructivism, which are themselves built into the very terms through which Neo-utilitarian scholarship understands its remit (for example Keohane, 1986). This complex process of (re)reading and (re)producing what counts as Constructi- vism helps explain not only the normalization of Constructivism itself, but, insofar as it helps explain Neo-utilitarianisms continued insulation from Postmodernist/Post-structuralist critiques, also provides an important key to understanding the reproduction of IRs infra-disciplinary centre of intellectual gravity. Hynek and Teti 194 r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 9, 2, 171199 Acknowledgement We thank Jozef Ba tora, Theo Farrell, Yale Ferguson, Stefano Guzzini, Audie Klotz and Cecelia Lynch and three anonymous reviewers and the editors for comments on earlier drafts. Financial support from the Czech Academy of Science (grant number KJB708140803) is gratefully acknowledged. Notes 1 Although the division is usually framed in positivist/post-positivist terms, we resort to this alternative labelling for reasons elucidated further below (see especially Blind spots and Figure 3). 2 Capitalized terms refer to IR scholarship, whereas lower-case terms designate PoSS positions. 3 Partially shared key assumptions by empiricists and logical positivists sometimes lead to their incorrect conflation. We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for emphasizing this point. 4 Bhaskar (1997) distinguishes between general scientific-realist theory of science (transcendental realism) and a narrower version appertaining to social science (critical naturalism). 5 Several earlier formulations echo Hopfs. Adler (1997) distinguishes between modern, legal, narrative and genealogical Constructivism, with the first three falling under Hopfs conven- tional rubric. Adler (1997, 2003) speaks about a weak programme designating Neo-Kantian Constructivism close to (3B) and a scientific strong programme, encapsulating most IR Constructivists. Price and Reus-Smit (1998) and Reus-Smit (2002) distinguish between minimal foundationalist/positivist/modern and anti-foundationalist/interpretive/postmodern currents. 6 Sterling-Folker (2000) consequently argues that functionalist/liberal logic is inherent to all Constructivism, subsuming under this rubric (neo)Functionalism and (neo)Liberal Institution- alism. 7 The taxonomies discussed are actually defined in methodological rather than ontological or epistemological terms, further neutralizing thick Constructivism, because Postmodern/Post- structural methods are considered unscientific. 8 Ironically, the representation of social scientific scholarship as bias-free justifies criticism of Postmodernists/Post-structuralists on the grounds of their normative commitments (for example Reus-Smit, 2002, p. 501; Checkel, 2004, p. 236). 9 Widmaier is probably aware of Millenniums special issue, as he cites Isacoffs contribution, although this is the sole piece he refers, ignoring Haas and Haas introductory paper. 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