Abstract

The article introduces constructivism as a meta-theoretical commitment which assumes the social construction of meaning, the construction of social reality and possible retroactive effects between these two. This meta-theoretical commitment has theoretical implications for International Relations mainly through the pivotal role of identity in constructivist IR theories: it effectively takes interests more seriously than neo-realists and ideas more seriously than neo-institutionalists. Finally, in a way sometimes reminiscent of the English School, its understanding of institutions is more inscribed in the "longue durée" as defining normative elements of international society. But constructivist research has also studied the role of (physical) institutions within processes of norm diffusion, both as repositories of these rules and as a crucial place for socialisation processes.