User talk:LGreg/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge (LG seminar)/Group 2/Power/Power of political theories in IR

Although I agree that theories in international relations can be useful in understanding state behaviour and predicting future events, it is also worth looking into constructivism in IR and why it suggests predicting the future of international politics is pointless. Constructivism emerged as a school in international relations only thirty years ago after the existing theories like neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism failed to predict the end of Cold War (Baylis, Smith, Owens, 2017, 145). As an "approach" rather than a "theory" of IR, constructivism puts an emphasis on change. It stresses that the main concern of IR scholars should be the current context of states and the world of international politics, because they can change and behave differently throughout space and time. On the other hand, Bardhok Bashota argues that the tasks of IR theories are to interpret, explain and forecast IR developments (Bashota, 2011, 33). Moreover, Edwin Fogelman also states that IR theories “may aid in prediction” of future IR developments (McClelland, 304). However, constructivism neither strives to predict what will happen in the future, nor does it seek to decompose structures into their individual units and their interactions. It takes into account the complex mix of history, norms, beliefs and ideas when examining state behaviour (Slaughter, 2011). So, although theories in IR are a powerful tool in understanding state behaviour and predicting future developments, as constructivism has proven during the post-Cold War era, they may sometimes be misleading.

Bibliography

Baylis, J. (2017). The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. 7th ed. Oxford University Press. Bashota, B. (2011). The role of theory of international relations in explicating global political events. Iliria International Review, pp.33-45. McClelland, C. (1960). The Function of Theory In International Relations. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 4(3), pp.303-336. Slaughter, A. (2011). International Relations, Principal Theories. In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford University Press. Zbaykam (discuss • contribs) 01:42, 9 December 2019 (UTC)