A tale of two cognitions: The Evolution of Social Constructivism in International Relations

• Main Author: Hannes Peltonen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais 2017-10-01
• Series: Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional
• Subjects: Cognition; constructivism; evolution; evolutionary branching; disciplinary history
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-73292017000100214&lng=en&tlng=en

Abstract Constructivism in International Relations (IR) is popular, but constructivists seem disappointed. Allegedly something has been lost. Such criticisms are misplaced. There was never a uniform Constructivism. Since constructivism is socially constructed, to argue that constructivism has evolved “wrongly” is odd. This paper explains the dissatisfaction with constructivism followed by a second reading of its evolution as a tale of two cognitions. These two cognitions distinguish genera in the constructivist “family”. A criticism against one genus based on the cognition of the other is unfair. A focus on cognitions and the use of genera helps in perceiving constructivism’s future evolution.