Hoffman Politics

International Studies Perspectives (2003) 4, 15–33.

PEDAGOGY IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Making and Remaking the World for IR 101: A Resource for Teaching Social Constructivism in Introductory Classes
ALICE BA AND MATTHEW J. HOFFMANN University of Delaware
Social constructivism is now the main theoretical challenger to established perspectives within the discipline of international relations. Unfortunately, the contributions and standing of constructivist approaches in the discipline are not mirrored in undergraduate textbooks for introductory international relations courses. In this article, we present a lecture template containing a broad synthesis of the main tenets of constructivist thought and discuss how constructivism approaches patterns and phenomena of world politics. The lecture is framed by comparing constructivism with the generally statist treatment that topics receive in mainstream international relations as exemplified by neorealism and neoliberalism. This article is designed to provide accessible supporting material for teaching social constructivism to introductory international relations classes. Keywords: social constructivism, pedagogy

Social constructivism is now the main theoretical challenger to established perspectives within the discipline of international relations. This approach to world politics rose to prominence as an alternative to the dominant paradigms by challenging their positions on the nature of the international system, the nature of actors within it, and indeed the nature of social/political interaction in general. The social constructivist focus on the role of ideas, identities, and norms offers a way to explain change in world politics, a noted weakness of mainstream approaches. The importance of social constructivism in and for the discipline of international relations is, by now, well established. Unfortunately, the contributions and standing of social constructivist approaches in the discipline are not mirrored in

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