The Theoretical Fusion And Criticism Of Constructivism

The development of Constructivism makes Alexander Winter realize that there isstill some academic and development space for Constructivism. There are twonoteworthy aspects: the extension and expansion of the theoretical level and thedeepening of the theoretical connotation. Fusing Constructivism with the twomainstream theories of International Politics and attempting to establish new theoriesis undoubtedly a bold idea, which arouses high solicitude of academic circle for thisreason.According to the logics of Winter and Balkin, the thesis probes into the fusion ofConstructivism respectively. The former argues that on the one hand, Constructivismadopts Structuralism and State Centralism, which possesses colors of Realism; on theother hand, it holds optimistic spirit for the development of global society. The lattermainly criticizes winter’s theory which is liberalism in nature. First, the thesis has anintroduction of the theoretical background: Constructivism originates from the criticaltheory of sociology and is known worldwide mainly through its criticism for newrealism during the process of theory development, thus it is called the internationalpolitical theory of Constructivism.Secondly, the thesis explores the relationship between Constructivism andrealism as well as liberalism. For one thing, Constructivism and realism have similarstructuralist frameworks and both of them are based on high State Centralism andScientific Realism. However, its difference from the ontology of realism determinesthat both of them are hard to fuse with each other. For another thing, there is a strongsimilarity between Constructivism and liberalism: both of them have similarontologies, emphasize the society progress and regard “ideas are everywhere” as thekey part of the theories. Through the comparison, it is easy to find that Constructivismhas more ideological tendency than liberalism.The sticking point causing for Constructivism’s inclination to liberalism is thatWinter’s theory is not only social theory but also international political theory. When Constructivism interprets anarchism, Kantianism holds the most controversy; while inthe British school it reflects the neutrality of Kantianism. The differences betweenthem stem from the British School’s Grotianism which absorbs experience from thetheory of Wars and is more adapted to international politics. The British Schoolanalyzes the world in a historical and social perspective and calls the internationalworld and social world mature anarchism.Lastly, throughout the process of the theoretical fusion, two problems ofConstructivism existing in itself are revealed: it doesn’t elaborate systematically itsown theory and it lacks maneuverability in the process of practice. Thus, the structureof Constructivism must be revised on the basis of Saussure’s structural linguistictheories, and Constructivism should thoroughly consider the influences of nationalism,sovereignty issue and domestic politics on state interaction. Furthermore, introducingGame Theory into Constructivism makes Constructivism more energetic.