This article “ Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power
Politics ,” by Alexander Wendt , focus on the exploration and analysis of various perspectives and arguments surrounding the social construction powers and authority behind politics. It is noteworthy that the article attempts to present a view that takes a departure from the common liberal claim which indicates that international institutions are capable of transforming the interest and identities of their states. Instead, the article highlights a psychological form of sociological social that involves a systematic theory where interests and identities are regarded as dependent variables. In the development of a constructivist argument to unite rationalists and realist-liberal debates, the author does not attempt referring to work and findings that have been made by previous researchers and sociologists (Wendt, 1992). To this extent, the readers lack the opportunity to do a quick comparative analysis while trying to understand the views presented in the article.
While examining the relationship that exists between social construction power of politics and anarchy, the article fails to give sufficient details and information that exhaustively describe the critical features of anarchy. Besides, critiques would argue that the article falls short of providing the actual reflection of the various principles of constructivism. No clear guidelines are explaining the survival and effectiveness of self-regarding perceptions associated with identity. As for rationalists, it would be more elaborate if the author had presented a perspective or argument that supports weaker behavioral conception in consideration of the difference made by different institutions (Wendt, 1992). It would also be more acceptable for the author to place more emphasis on trying to support the view that the creation of international institutions would be rendered inherently unstable without the ability to transform interests and identities.
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In attempting to address the causal issues associated with anarchy, the article only focuses on demonstrating ways in which self-regarding ideas concerning security often undergo development as well as the conditions under which major efficient causes may contribute to disposing of states as opposed to others (Wendt, 1992). Nonetheless, there is a different school of thought that supports the argument that conception of interest and ones-self have a higher likelihood of mirroring activities that are considered to be significant over time. The capturing of such a principle used in the formation of identity happens through the notion of symbolic interaction, which maintains that the socialization level of an actor plays a significant role in aiding the reflection of self.
Further, the article does not take into account the preexisting findings and development made regarding the model of identity used in effective understanding of the codetermination of institutions and the related processes (Wendt, 1992). On the contrary, the article focuses on placing more emphasis and significance on the overall model of identity, which is fundamentally simplistic in its application to more competitive institutions. It is worth noting that different systems of self-help security tend to change and evolve through several phases in their interaction cycles.
The article clarifies that different international relations theories largely find their basis on social aspects and relationships involving processes and agencies. Besides, social structures are not useful in the determination of international theorizing content. However, social theories have a considerable role to play in the formulation of the questions revolving around the present nature of global politics and the techniques used in obtaining appropriate responses.
Substantively, the article has attempted to explore the various aspects of the social theory including the basis of the determination of the strategies that can effectively describe revolutionary developments and changes characterizing global politics and international relations (Wendt, 1992). Nonetheless, there are no attempts made by this article to interrogate the various contrary view that does not seem to agree with the positions taken by a majority of thee sociologists on structural transformations in the international organization of power and politics.
Reference
Wendt, A. (1992). Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics. International Organization, 46 (2), 391-425. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2706858
