The Cunning of Imperialist Reason: Using a Bourdieu inspired Constructivism in IR/IPE.

Over the past decades constructivism has moved from the margins to the centre of IR/IPE. Therefore the contentious issue is no longer whether or not one can use constructivism in IPE. Rather, the question is how to make the best possible use of constructivism in IR/IPE. This paper makes an argument in favour of a sociological version of constructivism (drawing heavily on the work of Pierre Bourdieu) which is particularly well suited to develop questions and answers for empirical studies in IR/IPE. The reason is that, although this approach cannot overcome and resolve the central dichotomies in social theory, it suggests ways which make it possible to argue in parallel and to keep both sides of the dichotomies within the analysis. The paper provides three illustrations of this. The first is that the approach focuses both on power entailed by the social construction of meaning both at the level of the level of the ideas expressed by policy maker and/or observer in the public realm and at the level of the private, material action. The second is that it suggests a way of keeping an explicit link between the instrumental use of ideas and the taken for granted dimension of social reality. The third is that the approach stresses the significance of reflexivity both for critical knowledge and for the reproduction of social hierarchies. The focus on power, agency and reflexivity is not fortuitous. It is around these issues that the critique of constructivists, from outsiders and insiders alike, tends to focus and therefore when discussing how to make the best possible use of constructivism, it is from these issues that one has to depart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]