The New Constructivism

Abstract

Chapter 2 analyses the main approaches of The New Constructivism: practice theory, relationalism, network analysis, and actor network theory. I first offer an overview of each perspective, and then describe how together they overcome the dichotomies described related to Constructivism I discuss in the previous chapter, together forming a broad “practice-relational” theoretical basis for the New Constructivism in IR. While practice theory is often thought limited to the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, I explore the full array of pragmatic and critical practice theories available to IR scholars. Similarly, I describe a broad account of relational and processual sociology, network analysis and actor network theory. I describe how, by deploying distinct concepts, a practice-relational approach moves beyond problematic binaries like material vs. ideational explanations, structure vs. agency, and subjective vs. object accounts of social action. From a practice-relational perspective, political agents are always situated in social contexts imbued with power and knowledge. I show how a practice-relational view proves that approaches that downplay meaning are as misplaced as those that rely solely on objective power differentials to explain political life.