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In international relations, the relationship between states has primarily been analysed by observing them as having a singular identity and being utility maximizers no matter the level of cooperation. However, “while realists view interests as material and objective phenomena, social constructivists tend to argue in interest flow from identity and are not first and foremost material properties” (K.M. Fierke, 2015, p.83) There is a different way to analyse states and the insecurities constructed overtime, and this can be done with the theory of constructivism. Constructivism applies to how states perceive other states based on criteria of nationalism, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion. The ideology chosen by the state may form within these group of variables. This theory describes why states interact with each other, explaining when states are allies, enemies, neutral, peaceful, or aggressive towards one another. These perceptions form patterns of war and peace, giving away for the formation of foreign policy which is done by considering historical subjectivity, rather than the realist assumptions of ‘a state is a state’ and all potential states could be threats. Constructivism allows states to be a number of things at the same time. This leads us to understand that different states view other states through a constructed identity which fundamentally shapes perceptions of the norms made through the culture and the agents that affect the insecurities. This essay will be analysing how insecurities were constructed before the American Civil War broke out, the construction of identity in Rwanda of Tutsis and Hutus which lead to the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, and the various civil wars that took place in The Democratic Republic of Congo post-independence. These arranged group of case studies relate to civil wars which will stablish a clear base for the understanding of the construction of insecurities. In addition, it will compare the constructivist approach with different neo- realist and neo-liberal perspectives in order to broaden the standpoint relating the origins of these wars. For the international peace keeping action and global security, the essay will be focusing on the role of the United Nations and their role in peace keeping and peacebuilding at an international level has had a big impact in the relations between states.
Humans are essentially social beings, and fundamentally exist within a society. Society is ruled by norms that change with the passing of time, nevertheless, Thomas Luckmann puts focus on the idea that human society has been socially constructed as “individuals begin to adopt, consciously and unconsciously, the norms and conventions of the social world that they engage with, they undergo the process of socialisation” (Columba P. Nick V. Williams, 2015[1966], p.16). The following dimensions “social construction of reality, inter-subjectivity, identity formation and socialisations” (Columba P. Nick V. Williams, 2015[1966], p.17) can be explored when the constructivist theoretical approach is used in assessing how insecurities of states are constructed. Established the context of social construction, it is fair to argue that identities, norms and culture are shaped by one another, and continually affect one another. Social construction exists because of the systematic construction of identities. In the book Identity, Adrian Poole explains that identity “is a dream, a fiction, a kind of heaven, a kind of hell… identity of meaning is its cause and its consequence, freely given and received, beyond all vicissitude” (Walker and Leedham-Green, 2010, p. 24-25). With this description, the idea social identities are linked with social contexts depending on the geographical station of individuals, the culture they follow allowing for the interests to derive from their identities. This shows identities are not a given by anyone, but rather constructed throughout time as they are unsolidified and can change.
Clifford Geertz defines culture as “an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life.” (Clifford Geertz 1973, p.89) This definition shows what constructivist aim to understand when they analyse insecurities constructed, as culture enables the understanding of different social groups’ motivations that might have come from the “symbolic forms by means of which men communicate… and develop knowledge…”.
Jeremy Benthan in A Fragment on Government, described the main aim for humans should be “the greatest happiness of the greatest number, that is the measure of right and wrong.” This utilitarian theory entails behaving to certain incentives to maximise utility. The construction of identities and norms in an international society can be argued to have come about with this in mind. This argument can be supported with the analysis of the American civil war and how the constructed identity of African slaves by the American government was done in order to propel the economy which lead to the civil war of 1861. This argument not only explains why identities and norms could have been constructed, but also how insecurities ravel from these constructions. Norms are shared expectations, or as Peter Katzenstein stated, they are the “collective expectations about proper behaviour for a given identity” (Peter Katzenstein, 1996, p.5). These are accepted to a certain degree, they are internalised, however, it is a choice to accept them or not accept them, becoming part of a rational idea of how the society lived in works. Even if norms might hold a moral context, it does not mean these have to be good. In America, since winning back in 1776 and ratifying their constitution, they began expanding to North America through the purchase, conquest and the genocide of millions. At the time, the purchase and ownership of slaves coming from various African countries was a big business, making most of the economy dependent on slave labour as “’it was the sale of Africans in the New World—the slave trade—that laid the financial foundation of the United States” (J. A. Rogers, 1961, p.35). Many acts in the constitution enabled this behaviour, facilitating the view of white supremacy into becoming a social norm. However, when Abraham Lincoln became president this norm would begin to be challenged. North America began to be modernised and industrialised, however “the Southern economy was based principally on large farms that produced commercial crops such as cotton and that relied on slaves as the main labour force. Rather than invest in factories or railroads as Northerners had done, Southerners invested their money in slaves—even more than in land…” (Jennifer L. Webber, 2018) The construction of identity for black slaves in this case had allowed the US to and many other European countries to grow their economies, broaden markets, as “the slave trade, which had a great impact on the growth of European ports and promoted the emergence of manufacturers processing raw materials cultivated by Africans” (UNESCO, 1979, p. 20) The insecurity constructed came primarily from the freeing of slaves and the possible economic outcomes which could decrease profits as slaves would not be counted as property with free labour but people who should also be paid for their work. The constructivist approach shows this was the beginning of the end for the norm which motivated white supremacy. Finnemore and Sikkink explain the three cycles of norms: norm emergence, norm cascade and norm internalisation, coming to this issue to the last stage where “norm acquire a taken-for-granted quality and are no longer matter of… debate.” (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998, p.894-905) After the confederacy was created, and the war between the north and the south of American began, what had been a norm and part of the American culture was challenged as even voluntary conscription to flight in the war was allowed for black Americans for the first time in history.
In order to analyse how the insecurities were constructed and lead to the American civil war, a few neo-realist assumptions will be put in place. In neo-realism, “states claiming sovereignty will inevitably develop offensive military capabilities to defend themselves and extent their power” () due to the nature of the theory of defensive and offensive capability. this key point can be highlighted when the provisional government the Confederate states of America began to accept voluntary conscription in order to create their own army. Also, another neo-classical realist assumption can be seen in this example which is “national security or insecurities is largely the result of the structure of the system” (John Baylis, 2011, p.233) The insecurities came from the political structure of the state itself. The economic balance between the north and the south began to change drastically, and agents and structure are mutually constituted therefore if the agents believe in the structure that is what it will be, but if they do not, then insecurities for the state will begin to emerge.
Moving forward to the 20th century, the conflict between the Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda marked the beginning an ongoing war which lead to the genocide of approximately 800,000 to a million Tutsis in 1994 in an ongoing killing of 100 days. This came as a result of a deep-rooted prejudice, and a division based on hatred which invigorated the Hutu ruling regimes after independence to see Tutsi as intrusive foreigners even though they had been living in harmony pre-colonial times. This ideology encouraged the idea for the extermination of all Tutsis. In this case, insecurities began to be constructed by their colonial settlers, who at the beginning were the Germans, but after WW1 reparations had to be paid, therefore the land was handed to the Belgians. As mention earlier, identity is fluid and has an important factor for the impact in the construction of social reality, it can be argued that in Rwanda, the hatred between Hutus and Tutsis can be traced back to the construction of their identities by the hands of the Belgian settlers. “The colonial power further polarized the groups by classifying Rwandans into ethnic groups and making it obligatory for them to carry ethnic identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity. The Belgians deemed the Tutsi to be superior to the Hutu and thus Tutsi were favoured in administrative positions, education and jobs in the modern sector” (Nikuze, D., 2014, p. 1089)
After colonisation, the Congo was embroiled in what is called the first Africa’s World war. From 1906 until independence, the territory was under Belgian rule, and due to this when independence was given in 1960 many of the Congo’s new leaders did not have much formal education or leadership experience. The new president, Mobutu was able to build the economy based on the copper boom from 1965 to 1975 until the crash of commodity prices including copper that followed the Vietnam war plunging the country into debt.
The Rwanda genocide of 1994 played an important part in the disintegration of the Congo. Conflict in Rwanda between Hutu and Tutsis people predates Rwanda’s independence in 1962 but the path to genocide began in1990 when the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front began to cross border into Rwanda from their base in Uganda. In 1994 the plane of Rwanda’s Hutu president was shut down. This lead to the 100-day killing of Rwanda’s tutsis by Rwandan’s Hutus. This made millions of Tutsis fled to Eater Zaire crowing them into refugee camps in the city of Goma.
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