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theoretical groundwork for the identification of symbiosis between the conceptualisation of the nation-state and the European Union in official Irish discourse that constitutes the focus of this book. An emphasis on context, the governmental elite and the role of discourse places this research in a broadly constructivist framework. In the realm of social science, ‘constructivism’ holds (following Berger and Luckmann [1967] and Searle [1995]) that social realities exist only by human cognitive action and agreement. Hence they are fragile and changeable – shaped, among other
identity and sovereignty, nation and state, inflicted on the region, a conundrum better addressed by constructivism . 3 Its insistence that systemic structures are not just material configurations of power and wealth and include the cultural norms that derive from identity , helps to understand how the region’s powerful supra-state identities lead to a unique contestation of the state sovereignty which underlays the stability of other regional states systems. Secondly, this study will argue that the state and sub-state levels are at least as
’s work has been adopted in IR. It also poses a number of important questions to the existing theoretical approaches in IR which have been engaged with in the course of the book, namely, the concepts of ‘good international citizenship’ and ‘responsibility to protect’, the constructivism of Johnstone and others who take the role of language seriously, and the critical theoretical
neutral states, and re-examine neutrality from a different perspective that brought in intersubjectivity, identity and norms. Social constructivism was employed to rethink neutrality as a concept and a practice, uncovering how norms and values become embedded over time, producing their own realities, frames of reference and myths. Viewing neutrality from this prism opened up new understandings of why it
governments that are part and parcel of EU membership. Europeanisation is not, of itself, a theory. However, it has been very closely associated with the new institutionalist literature. It is also 9780719055157_4_002.qxd 20/3/09 Analytical challenges 12:06 PM Page 23 23 associated to a lesser degree with constructivism, which regards reality as socially constructed rather than ‘objectively given’ (Rosamond 2000: 119). An institutionalist understanding of political science is frequently deployed to provide the explanatory variables behind the Europeanisation process
historical processes serves as a counterweight to this. Section 3 discusses his use of Gilbert Simondon’s idea of concretisation as a way to contain the relativism with respect to outcomes that haunts constructivism, without lapsing into Marxian technical determinism. Section 4 suggests that Feenberg’s attempt to steady the ship in this way reflects a one-sidedness in his theory, according to which the discursive and the political are always both subordinate to the technical (which carries the historical process forward through concretisation) and superordinate to it
My purpose in this book has been to show that Feenberg’s intervention constitutes an important and much needed development of Marxian and critical theory in relation to technology. I have also argued that his work is a vital counterweight to other, non-critical tendencies in contemporary philosophy and sociology of technology, especially constructivism, ANT and post-phenomenology. In concluding, I will summarise the sense in which his work constitutes an advance and then review some of the suggestions I have made, in an effort to contribute to the further
‘stories on security’ from the points of view of each of the key European actors. 10 A constructivist approach to security studies suits such an ambition particularly well, since constructivism involves the conviction that the concept of security is context-bound and requires specification. 11 It is an approach less circumscribed by preconceptions about the nature of international relations, and
identity plays a role in international relations ( Guzzini 2004 , Williams 2004 , Mearsheimer et al. 2005 , Mearsheimer 2018 , Tsygankov 2019 ), not to mention constructivism’s long-fought battle over the role of identity in foreign policy ( Campbell 1992 , Prizel & Dunlop 1998 , Berenskoetter 2010 , Rumelili 2011 ). It is therefore surprising why there have been rare interventions in everyday foreign
are reviewed and assessed in this volume. INTRODUCTION 3 Overview of the volume Each of the subsequent chapters explores various theories of IR in the context of developments in Northern Ireland. In Chapter 1, Paul Dixon examines the relevance of the three principal paradigms of IR – realism, idealism, and constructivism – in explaining what has happened in Northern Ireland. His focus on the role deception played in the peace process builds upon earlier research.12 He concludes that constructivist assumptions best explain the flexibility, and at times deceit