Three Roads to Europe or the Social Construction of European Affairs

Abstract

The paper draws on social constructivism with regard to European politics. Even so, there are many constructivist approaches, which claim to have the greatest explanatory power, with three of these approaches being considered as especially important in recent research. Therefore, Checkel’s concept of social learning, Risse’s notion of argumentative action, and Schimmelfennig’s approach of rhetorical action are at the center of the paper. All three scientists favor a constructivist ontology. Moreover, they all depart from a common ground, the ”middle ground”, which constructivists claim to seize. This, via media, puts constructivism between reflectivism and rationalism. In the first section I elaborate on Adler’s notion of the ”middle ground.” I then outline the above mentioned three social constructivist approaches. The point, however, is to compare these approaches and to demonstrate their explanatory power as well as to show their inherent weaknesses.