The Value Vacuum: Self-Enforcing Regimes and the Dilution of the Normative Feedback Loop

This article proposes a modified constructivist theory, which links liberalism and constructivism through the normative feedback loop. Part I briefly explains traditional international relations theories such as realism, institutionalism, liberalism and constructivism. A modified constructivist perspective espouses the presence of two constants: (i) assertion of national preferences by constituents for whom the state acts as an agent in international relations, and (ii) social construction of state identities through interaction with other states in the international arena.