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Alexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. Wendt and scholars such as Peter J. Katzenstein, Michael Barnett, Kathryn Sikkink, John Ruggie, Martha Finnemore, Nicholas Onuf, and others have, within a relatively short period of time, established constructivism as one of the major schools of thought in the field. In a recent survey Wendt was listed as one of the most influential scholars of international relations. Constructivism is a new criticism in philosophy directed against medieval realism, classical rationalism and empiricism. ...
International Relations (IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs of and relations among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ...
Peter Katzenstein (b. ...
Main International Relations Theories and derivates Realism & Neorealism Idealism, Liberalism & Neoliberalism Marxism & Dependency theory Functionalism & Neofunctionalism Critical theory & Constructivism In international relations, constructivism is the application of constructivist epistemology to the study of world affairs. ...
Biography
Alexander Wendt was born in 1958, and read political science and philosophy at Macalster College before receiving his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1989, studying under Raymond "Bud" Duvall. Wendt taught at Yale University from 1989 to 1997, at Dartmouth College from 1997 to 1999, at the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2004, and is currently the Ralph D. Mershon Professor of International Security at the Ohio State University. He is married to Jennifer Mitzen, also a member of the Ohio State political science faculty. He is currently working on two projects; arguing for the inevitability of a world state, and investigating the possible implications of quantum mechanics for social science. UMN redirects here. ...
Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. ...
Dartmouth College is a private academic institution in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ...
The University of Chicago is a private university principally located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890 and opened in 1892. ...
The Ohio State University is currently the third largest university in the United States and currently ranked by US News and World Report as the best public university in Ohio and the twenty-first best public university in the nation. ...
A simple introduction to this subject is provided in Basics of quantum mechanics. ...
Social Theory of International Politics Wendt's most influential work to date is Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999), which builds on and goes beyond his 1992 article "Anarchy Is What States Make Of It". Social Theory of International Politics places itself as a response to Kenneth Waltz's 1979 work, Theory of International Politics, the canonical text of the neorealist school. Kenneth N. Waltz is a prominent international relations (IR) scholar. ...
For neorealism in film or literature, see neorealism (art). ...
Wendt shares the fundamental premise of realists that the state system is in a situation of anarchy. However, he denies that anarchy alone is sufficient to determine a Hobbesian scenario of states competing against one another for survival. This challenges the central role given to the 'logic of anarchy' in neorealist scholarship. Indeed, Wendt claims there is no logic logic of anarchy per se. For Wendt, violent competition is only one of several possible outcomes of a state system under conditions of anarchy. Wendt reaches this conclusion by challenging neorealism's materialism, stressing the importance of ideas, norms, and culture. State interests, identities, and even the meaning of power itself are constituted by ideas. Thus, Wendt says, there is a sense in which Soviet ideas about the Cold War were the Cold War. Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. ...
In the realist theory of International Relations, the anarchical system that all states find themselves in is the lack of clear organisation of states into a hieracical order that is found within states. ...
State of nature is a term in political philosophy used to describe the hypothetical or empirical condition of humanity when or if government did not exist. ...
In Social Theory of International Politics, the ideas which constitute interests and identities are said to be 'intersubjectively constituted'. They are the result of an ongoing process of state interactions. Thus, it is process, rather than structure which determines the nature of international politics. Though the state system may at times conform to realist descriptions of violent competition, this is not a necessary state of affairs, but a result of a process of social construction.
Perhaps most importantly, by placing ideas, norms, and culture at the centre of his explanation of international politics, Wendt's theory has important implications for the possibility of progress in international politics. Contrary to neorealism's static materialist structuralism, Wendt's social theory bears on the 'tranformative potential' of international politics. His theory claims to reveal the potential for a more cooperative international relations.
Works by Wendt
Monographs - Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
Articles - "The agent-structure problem in international relations theory" in International Organization, vol. 41, no. 3, 1987.
- "Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics" in International Organization, vol. 46, no. 2, 1992.
- "Collective identity formation and the international state" in American Political Science Review, vol. 88, no. 2, 1994.
- "Constructing international politics" in International Security, vol. 20, no. 1, 1995.
- "Driving with the rearview mirror: on the rational science of institutional design" International Organization, vol. 55, no. 4, 2001.
- "Why a world state is inevitable" in European Journal of International Relations, vol. 9, no. 4, 2003.
- "The state as person in international theory" in Review of International Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 2004.
An international organization (also called intergovernmental organization) is an organization of international scope or character. ...
The American Political Science Review, or APSR as its often referred to, is the flagship publication of the American Political Science Association and one of the most prestigious journals in the field of contemporary political science. ...
This politics-related article is a stub. ...
Major Areas of Interest International relations theory attempts to provide a conceptual model upon which international relations can be analyzed. ...
Philosophy of social science is the scholarly elucidation and debate of accounts of the nature of the social sciences, their relations to each other, and their relations to the natural sciences (see natural science). ...
An international organization (also called intergovernmental organization) is an organization of international scope or character. ...
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