Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics
E933748
Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics is a seminal constructivist article in international relations arguing that state identities and interests are socially constructed rather than determined by an anarchic international system.
All labels observed (2)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11565413 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics Context triple: [Alexander Wendt, notableWork, Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics]
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A.
The International Anarchy
The International Anarchy is a 1916 political study by Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson that analyzes the causes of World War I and critiques the unregulated system of rival nation-states.
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B.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics is a seminal work of international relations theory by John J. Mearsheimer that advances an offensive realist explanation of great power behavior and the inevitability of conflict in an anarchic international system.
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C.
International Institutions and State Power
"International Institutions and State Power" is a seminal work in international relations theory that analyzes how international institutions shape and constrain state behavior within the global political and economic order.
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D.
Social Theory of International Politics
Social Theory of International Politics is a seminal work in international relations that develops a constructivist framework to explain how state identities and interests are shaped by social interaction rather than solely by material power.
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E.
Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations
Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations is a seminal work of political philosophy and international relations that analyzes the dynamics of power, diplomacy, and conflict among states in the modern world.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics Target entity description: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics is a seminal constructivist article in international relations arguing that state identities and interests are socially constructed rather than determined by an anarchic international system.
-
A.
The International Anarchy
The International Anarchy is a 1916 political study by Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson that analyzes the causes of World War I and critiques the unregulated system of rival nation-states.
-
B.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics is a seminal work of international relations theory by John J. Mearsheimer that advances an offensive realist explanation of great power behavior and the inevitability of conflict in an anarchic international system.
-
C.
International Institutions and State Power
"International Institutions and State Power" is a seminal work in international relations theory that analyzes how international institutions shape and constrain state behavior within the global political and economic order.
-
D.
Social Theory of International Politics
Social Theory of International Politics is a seminal work in international relations that develops a constructivist framework to explain how state identities and interests are shaped by social interaction rather than solely by material power.
-
E.
Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations
Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations is a seminal work of political philosophy and international relations that analyzes the dynamics of power, diplomacy, and conflict among states in the modern world.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
journal article
ⓘ
scholarly article ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst |
the assumption that anarchy necessarily leads to self-help
ⓘ
the assumption that state interests are given exogenously ⓘ |
| author | Alexander Wendt ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
anarchy does not have a single logic independent of state interaction
ⓘ
interests of states depend on their identities ⓘ self-help and power politics are institutions, not essential features of anarchy ⓘ state identities and interests are socially constructed ⓘ state identities are produced and reproduced through social interaction ⓘ structures of human association are determined primarily by shared ideas rather than material forces ⓘ |
| citedAs | foundational text of constructivist international relations ⓘ |
| countryOfPublication |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizes |
neoliberal institutionalism
ⓘ
neorealism ⓘ |
| discipline | international relations ⓘ |
| field |
international relations
ⓘ
political science ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
interaction among states
ⓘ
mutual constitution of agents and structures in international relations ⓘ role of shared ideas and norms in international politics ⓘ |
| hasImpact |
challenged materialist and rationalist assumptions in IR theory
ⓘ
contributed to the constructivist turn in international relations ⓘ |
| hasNotablePhrase | anarchy is what states make of it ⓘ |
| influenced |
constructivist research program in international relations
ⓘ
identity-focused security studies ⓘ norms research in international relations ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
social theory of Anthony Giddens
ⓘ
structuration theory ⓘ symbolic interactionism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
anarchy in international politics
ⓘ
constructivism in international relations ⓘ international relations theory ⓘ social construction of power politics ⓘ state identities ⓘ state interests ⓘ |
| methodologicalApproach | theoretical analysis ⓘ |
| proposes |
that cooperative security systems are possible under anarchy
ⓘ
that different cultures of anarchy can exist ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1992 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | International Organization ⓘ |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press ⓘ |
| relatedWork | Social Theory of International Politics ⓘ |
| theoreticalApproach |
constructivism
ⓘ
social constructivism ⓘ |
| timePeriodDiscussed | post–Cold War international system ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics Description of subject: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics is a seminal constructivist article in international relations arguing that state identities and interests are socially constructed rather than determined by an anarchic international system.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Alexander Wendt
→
notableWork
→
Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics
ⓘ
Lockean culture of anarchy
→
describedIn
→
Alexander Wendt’s article "Anarchy is What States Make of It"
ⓘ
linked to: Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics