The Genesis of I.R. Theory

(or The World According to Waltz)

by Hans T. van der Veen

In the beginning there was the

(a ball), some call it ‘A State’

First DayThe ball was rolling around happily, unaware of any danger (he did not know he was on the world). But this day, as he met up with some similar balls, he discovered he was not alone.

Second dayFor some unexplained reason (some say it is

‘power’, others say it is ‘rationality’, many of these balls developed the habit of bumping

against each other.Like this:

We don’t quite know why not all of them had this nasty attitude, but some say it is ‘ANARCHY’

Third day

This situation of course was not very nice (head banging might hurt or a ball might disappear into oblivion) Therefore

the balls were framed, so that they could not move freely.

This is a square (well , they did not know yet the world was round), but some call it ‘ A System’

Day FourIn spite of the frame, the balls obnoxiously kept bumping their heads

against each other. It seemed Anarchy was very hard to overcome, therefore the Creator invented (or constructed) ‘The Divide’

He separated the frame (The System) in two parts and told all the balls to bump against the divide. Nobody knows why they obeyed, but some say it was the ‘balance of power’, which had something to do with our free, rational and

democratic choice to escape Anarchy. And indeed Anarchy was overcome and everybody could sleep quietly during a period that is known as ‘the Cold War’

or the era of Realism. This happy situation lasted for almost 45 years.

Day FiveIt may seem a bit odd to arrive at day five after 45 years, but we always have

to keep in mind that in the era of Realism we were living in a theoretical construct that had nothing to do with reality (were time and space were the

least of dimensions to worry about).

Now at day five something dramatic happened; somebody took the divide away!!! (an occurrence that is still waiting for an explanation). This of course

caused some confusion, although it must be said most Realists acted as if nothing had happened. The disturbing fact was merely that most balls did not start bumping their heads against each other again, whereas the world looked

exactly the same as at Day Three:

Lets call it a day off for the Realists (by the way they now called themselves Neo-Realists, because they were telling

the same old stories as before).

Day SixAt this special day, a little revolution occurred in heaven, and an angel fell

down on earth calling himself ‘A Liberal’.

Actually he called himself a Neo-liberal, because he did not want to distinguish himself too much from the Neo-realists and the Pleasures from

heaven (also called ‘The Pentagon’). What was so special about this angel was that he came up with a solution for the Day Five problem, he invented ‘The

Institution’.

As you can see, Institutions severely limit the freedom of movement for the balls!

Two problems however remained unsolved. The first was the irritating Anarchy which had returned after

the sudden disappearance of The Divide (at least in the behavior of some balls).

The second problem derived from the observation that other balls maintained disturbingly close relations, instead of the

usual head banging game; even where no institutions existed!

Institutions could partly prevent the balls from bumping against each other, but certainly did not explain such

incestuous relations. This gave all interested Realists and Liberals a lot of headaches.

But, as we will see there was still one day left for a happy ending.

Day Seven

And indeed at day seven men turned into God, and the big Creator entered the scene, and He said: “I am the big Constructor and thou shall call me ‘The Constructivist’, and thou shall know that it is norms and ideas that control the Power; the Power that once made you live in this terrible and frightening state of Anarchy”. And He continued: “Me, Myself and I have decided to call these norms and ideas in future ‘Culture’ or ‘Identity’. Believe in Me and thou shall know peace for the rest of your time”.

And so it ends, the story of the creation of the world, and dear friends, this is all you have to

believe.

Hans T. van der Veen, European University Institute, January 1998, May 2013.