The Study of International Peace Initiatives and International Relations Theories: Towards Critical Constructivism?

Abstract

This study aspires to harness the impulses of the critique of international
peace initiatives (IPIs) up to this point for the purposes of improving the
practical inquiries into them. In the study, attention is given namely to the
questions of the initial normative and epistemological premises of the
research. The study argues, in agreement with the precepts of critical
political theory, that the inquiry into IPIs should first of all strive to
emancipate people in postconflict situations. With respect to the IPIs’
general aim of transforming the target countries into stable, independent
and prosperous states and societies, the focus is directed at the influence
the IPIs exert upon social structures in the postconflict societies. With the
aim to conceptualize a basic framework for the research, the contemporary
thinking on the IPIs is interpreted with respect to International Relations
theories and the fundamental metatheoretical questions of social theories.
Consequently, in keeping with the philosophy of scientific realism, a critical
constructivist position is formulated for the given purposes.