Making Constructive Realism?: A Reassessment of the Role of Ideas in Realist Theory

Abstract

This study reevaluates the role of ideas in realist theory for the reason being that ideas can condition the exercise of ‘power’ in international politics. However, by privileging parsimony over theoretical depth, structural realism left the important impact of ideas on power politics uninvestigated. In doing so, realism itself has generally been criticized by constructivists as a largely empty rationalist theory. However, this criticism is somewhat misleading. In particular, some classical realist and various modified realist theories implicitly address the impact of ideas on power politics and state behaviors, allowing enough potential for the integration of ideas into the realist canon, thus helping realists to escape from the strictures of rationalist theories.