The Linkage between International Relations & International Law Through Constructivism: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Since the beginning of the third millennium, a new dialogue has been emerged between IR theorists especially those who are interested in the social creation of identity and who focus attention on the role of norms in international politics and international law scholars for whom normative evolution is highly significant. Constructivists have emphasized more on the social creation of norms. However, because international law is, of its nature, norm-focused, it is a fascination with norm creation, evolution, and destruction that has proven to be the strongest bridging point between some international law scholars and the constructivists. This bridge will form the core of this article. Constructivism has made a lot of contributions to understanding the operation of international law by demonstrating constitute or even trump interests. In fact, somehow norms may many international lawyers appear to have both rationalist and constructivist intuition. The most significant contributions of constructivist scholarship in both IR and IL are related to the insights it offers into social processes that drive the creation and the operation of international law. Constructivism hassuch potential to provide a more coherent account of customary international law than other IR theories and even than international law itself. In order to pursue such dialogue between the two fields, international lawyers will have to open their minds to conceptions of international politics that do not assume the latter field confine itself only to power and material interests.