Constructivism and international relations Essay

Constructivism and international relations - Essay Example Thus the debate between liberals and realists forms an axis of contention regarding international relations. Constructivists reject the idea by neorealism that states have a one-sided focus on material advantage. Wendt for example argues the most significant character of international relations is based on social term and not material items . Furthermore, social reality is subjective to international affairs. The social and political world cannot define international relations as a physical institution outside human cognizance. The main focus is, therefore, the extent of anarchy and power in relation to interaction and learning. Wendt (1992) focuses his argument more on rejecting the neorealist position to which constructivism results to anarchy which is mainly geared to self-help of states . In these aspects, state identities and interests come from the relationship subsisting between international and domestic societies. Constructivists argue that state interests are not defined by egoistic terms. This situation is effective because egoistic interests do not form a significant aspect of individuality and are based on individual representation relationships. The relative stabilities in these individual relationships act as if they were authorized by an institution. A lot of convergent factors expose states towards egoism, which in most cases do not preclude collective interests. Constructivism is interested in converging domestic values from a transnational scale through the establishment of democratic institutions.