Pragmatic Constructivism and the Study of International Institutions

Abstract

This article provides a pragmatic constructivist approach for progressing study in International Relations (IR) that sidesteps the ontological differences between major IR approaches, and that is capable of influencing practices in international relations. In particular, it looks at how international institutions can be studied and the possible consequences of how they are studied. While institutions are at times, as realists and neoliberal institutionalists contend, merely the artifacts of strategically and rationally motivated state actors, they are viewed differently by pragmatic constructivists. Institutions may, at times, be wilful actors on their own, but are also the venue in which reflexive new practices and policies develop. Pragmatic constructivism provides the explanatory lens through which this may be understood, as well as the methodological guidelines by which such a process may be pursued.