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The Importance Of Constructivism

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While liberalism violates liberal democratic foundations, constructivism provides an alternative theoretical framework to understand this phenomenon. Constructivism emphasizes the aspect of identity that shapes social and political actions through normative and material structures (Reus-Smit, p. 188). The significance of normative and material structures illustrates how they shape the behaviour of socio-political actors (individuals and/or states). Furthermore, constructivism argues that political action is influenced by shared beliefs and ideas that consists of structural characteristics, these shared ideas, values, and beliefs manifest greatly in shaping the individual/state (Reus-Smit, p. 196). Additionally, social and political actors identities …show more content…

90) – how did nativism embed itself in the sociopolitical realm? That’s when the ideational structure of constructivism provides an alternative perspective to underline the importance of interactional communications, ideas, and values that shape and influence political actions. The recent anti-immigration policies embody nativism in a country that was composed of immigrants. Historically, US political elites viewed the US as a “nation of (only) white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) immigrants. This led not just to an overall racist immigration policy, with notorious policies like the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) but also nativist policies and riots targeting white Europeans who were Catholic” (Mudde, The Far Right in America, p. 90). The US populist expression has always been there among elitists, as well as, it has been supported by a fraction of the masses, therefore, it is not unprecedented yet it is a “pathological normalcy” (Mudde, The Far Right in America, p. 93) – a discourse that has been influenced and nurtured by communication, shared beliefs and values that are socially constructed and fueled by human

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The authors of the text also look at the interaction between race, region, and movement when looking at the evolution of American politics. As party elites and political activists have found a wider partisan divide in issues, the ordinary American still harbors the same general outlook on social and political issues as in the past. Despite or rather in spite of this, Americans are showing an increased lack of confidence in their government and elected officials. This lack of confidence over career politicians has fueled actions such as the election of Donald Trump who campaigned as a successful businessman apart from the ordinary politics of

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