Normative Theory in IR: Frost's Constitutive Approach

Soğuk Savaş’ın bitimiyle, dikkat çeken normatif sorunların analizinde başvurulacak en önemli teorilerden biri olarak Normatif Teori, Uluslararası İlişkiler Teorileri arasında gelişme imkanı bulmuştur. Makalede, Normatif Teorinin teorinin çalışma alanı çerçevesinde ele aldığı konular ve kullandığı temel yaklaşımlar incelenip, teorinin Uluslararası İlişkiler disiplinindeki yerine değinilmektedir. Ayrıca, Soğuk Savaş döneminde teorinin gelişmesini engelleyen çeşitli nedenler ve yapılan eleştirilere de yer verilmektedir. Makalenin ikinci kısmında ise, Normatif Teoriye önemli bir katkıda bulunan Mervyn Frost’un ‘Kurucu Teorisi’ genel hatlarıyla ele alınmaktadır. Kurucu Teori, Frost’un tanımıyla uluslararası ilişkilerdeki ‘zor meseleleri’ anlamada ve onlara çözümler üretmede Normatif Teoriye yeni bir ivme kazandırmaktadır. Uluslararası İlişkilerdeki ‘yerleşik normları’ temel olarak alan Kurucu Teori, belli başlı normatif meseleleri çözmek için bir ‘arka plan teorisi’ oluşturmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bireysel haklar ile devlet egemenliği arasındaki normatif ikilemi çözmeyi hedefleyen Kurucu Teori, Dworkin’in hukuk alanındaki teorisinden yararlanmaktadır. Ayrıca, pozitivizmin eleştirildiği/terk edildiği ve post-pozitivist teorilerin Uluslararası İlişkileri anlamada yeni açılımlar sunduğu Soğuk Savaş sonrası dönemde Normatif Teorinin bir başka hayati görevi de, Uluslararası İlişkiler akademisyenlerine disiplinin özündeki etik taahhüde sadık kalmalarını hatırlatmaktır.

Uluslararası İlişkilerde Normatif Teori: Frost'un Kurucu Yaklaşımı

This article focuses on the revitalisation of Normative Theory in the post-Cold War era; and it introduces Mervyn Frost’s ‘Constitutive Theory’ as a crucial contribution to Normative International Theory. With the end of the Cold War, the political map of the world has changed dramatically; new normative issues have emerged; the old ones have come to the fore in world politics. While discussing why Normative Theory has had a marginal position in the discipline of IR, the article also examines its content. Then, the article moves onto the overview of Frost’s ‘Constitutive Theory’: it tries to establish a ‘background theory’ with which the ‘hard cases’ of international relations could be examined and solved. With his approach, Frost attempts to reconcile the two settled norms of international relations, namely rights and sovereignty. Moreover, Frost emphasises that the IR theorists and academicians have to take normative positions and make them explicit since the original commitment of the discipline is normative itself.

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