Wendt Article Impressions [Yoo, Week 5, Substantive]

"Anarchy is what state make of it."

"The constructivist approach that I will adopt in this chapter is a relational approach, concentrating on an ongoing process of social transaction rather than on the 'norms'."

These 2 quotes, in my opinion, solidified my understanding of what constructivism is about. I feel that realism and liberalism focus on 'norms' and what ought to be, while constructivism takes into account what is happening now. As Agata pointed out, constructivism appears to be a more fluid theory that can change and adapt to different cases.

Particularly, I found it interesting when Jackson asks, "What does it really mean to say that some state acts?" Jackson argues that 'the state' can only exist through the process of legitimization; that is, certain activities, such as collecting taxes or having publically elected officials, legitimates the state itself because the people accept these activities as done by the state. Only if people are convinced these actions are natural can the state itself exist. Which sounds really confusing to me, still. I guess the point is that people have to will themselves to accept the actions of the state. If not, the actions are not legitimate. Therefore, leaders are constantly in the process of rhetoric, trying to convince the population that their actions are the right thing to do. As Rachele pointed out, relational constructivism is constantly in a state of "war of words". I think this is very fitting in today's society especially, since much of the population's interaction with politicians happen through the media. It's not so much important how things are really working, as long as we accept governmental actions that are happening in our daily lives and believe in what the leaders are saying.

For some reason, I find this unsettling. Are we saying that the masses can only be influend through rhetoric and a "war of words"? For some reason, I feel constructivism de-emphasizes the "regular" people in society. I ask, what can we do, as college students, to make the world a "better" place?