Constructivism in International Relations: The Politics of Reality

by Maja Zehfuss

Maja Zehfuss critiques constructivist theories of international relations (currently considered to be at the cutting edge of the discipline) and finds them wanting and even politically dangerous. Zehfuss uses Germany's first shift toward using its military abroad after the end of the Cold War to illustrate why constructivism does not work and how it leads to particular analytical outcomes and forecloses others. She argues that scholars are limiting their abilities to act responsibly in international relations by looking towards constructivism as the future.

Genres: International Relations, Politics, Philosophy

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Hossein · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a student of English Literature, this book provides a great insight for interdisciplinary studies. Some of my friends who study IR may not be very interested in postmodernism in IR, but Zehfuss tries to show how postmodernism can fill some of the gaps in IR discipline

[Arys Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dengan sebuah contoh kasus, buku ini langsung menembakkan kritik ke 3 aliran konstruktivisme ilmu Hubungan Internasional dengan perspektif posstrukturalnya Derrida. Di beberapa bagian memang sangat bikin ngantuk dan perlu dibaca perlahan, tapi dengan keluasan referensi yang dimiliki Zehfuss, saya kira buku ini layak dibaca untuk mendalami konstruktivisme dan posstrukturalisme HI sekaligus.