Scientific Realism and the Concept of Structure in International Relations Theory

Despite the concept of structure is regarded as one of the key concepts in both social theory and International Relations (IR) theory, the dispute over its definition continues. On the foundation of this dispute lie not only methodological preferences, but also the very ontological problems underlying the conceptualizations of structure. In IR theory Alexander Wendt’s approach to reconceptualizing the concept of structure in the light of the debates in social theory has come into prominence. While Wendt in his endeavor to conceptualize structure is based on the theory of structuration, he broadly interprets it as including as well the structure conception deriving from scientific realism associated with Bhaskar’s work. This article, by questioning the relationship between scientific realism and the concept of structure as conceived by Wendt, suggests that a conceptualization of structure derived from scientific realism does not necessarily lead to a conception of structure that envisages the mutual dependence of structure and agency as found in the theory of structuration. The article also underlines the different ontological assumptions underlying different structure conceptualizations and tries to show that scientific realism, due to its conception of a stratified ontology, offers important possibilities for the development of a non- reductive structure conceptualization in IR.