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In this study we identify the differences in goal realisation when applying two conflicting paradigms regarding rule perception and management. We gathered more than 30 scenarios where goal conflicts were apparent in a military operational unit. We found that operators repetitively utilized certain routines in executing their tasks in an effort to realize several conflicting goals. These routines were not originally intended nor designed into the rules and not explicitly included in documentation. They were not necessarily at odds with the literal wording and/or the intent of rules and regulations, although we did find examples of this. Our data showed that local ingenuity was created innovatively within the frame of existing rules or kept invisible to those outside the unit. The routines were introduced and passed on informally, and we found no evidence of testing for the introduction of new risks, no migration into the knowledge base of the organisation, and no dissemination as new best practices. An explanation for this phenomenon was found in the fact that the military organisation was applying a top-down, classical, rational approach to rules. In contrast, the routines were generated by adopting a constructivist view of rules as dynamic, local, situated constructions with operators as experts. The results of this study suggest that organisations are more effective in solving goal conflicts and creating transparency on local ingenuity if they adopt a constructivist paradigm instead of, or together with, a classical paradigm.

Abstract
The architecture of constructivism (functionalism) has a kind of symbolic meaning associated with the modernist project. The authors conducted a study of the architectural avant-garde of Sverdlovsk, Russia which showed that the weak perception of the historical and cultural importance of constructivist buildings and complexes is associated not only with the lack of the people awareness, but also with the underestimation of their aesthetic value.
Meanwhile, the study of space-planning solutions for specific architectural projects reveals really conceptual aesthetics of the buildings. In addition, the study of the social history of constructivist architectural complexes, conducted by the authors, helped us to identify and articulate their cultural and historical significance and to highlight in a creative way the visual perception of these architectural reference markers in the space of the city. The authors also rely on their own experience of the exhibition, publication and sightseeing activities. The analysis of this experience allows the authors to draw some conclusions about the practice of developing and shifting the visual perception of constructivist monuments by the people.
The originality of the presented approach to the study of architecture is an appeal to the social history of architecture which helps to enhance its aesthetic value.

Der Beitrag erläutert zunächst die namensgebende Bezeichnung Kommunikativer Konstruktivismus als eine offene sozialwissenschaftliche- akademische Bewegung, die ihre theoretischen Wurzeln in der sozialkonstruktivistischen Wissenssoziologie hat. Ihre Entwicklung aber verdankt sie der empirischen Forschung, aus der sich die Ausweitung des Ansatzes ergibt; zudem machen die Herausforderungen neuerer sozialwissenschaftlicher Theorien eine kritische Integration nötig. Trotz ihrer Offenheit ist sie nicht beliebig, sondern teilt eine Reihe von grundlegenden sozialtheoretischen Vorstellungen, die in einen umfassenderen theoretischen Zusammenhang integriert wurden. Dies gilt auch für die spezifischen gesellschaftstheoretischen und diagnostischen Überlegungen zur Kommunikationsgesellschaft und zur Re-Figuration, die den Hintergrund für die sozialtheoretische Umstellung auf das kommunikative Handeln bilden. Abschließend sollen die Forschungsaufgaben und -potentiale des kommunikativen Konstruktivismus in aller Kürze skizziert werden.

This article investigates the theoretical added-value of critical realist incursions into International Relations constructivism. While constructivism focuses on providing multi-causal explanations, its conceptual horizon and subsequent methodological framework fundamentally obscure and limit the opportunity to conceptualize social dialectic and multi-causality in world politics. In this respect, a critical realist meta-theory can provide constructivism with a greatly expanded conceptual framework that transcends material–ideational divisions, and a framework that is able to envision more clearly the process of social dialectic. Second, critical realism affords a methodological diversity that can withstand simultaneous constructivist investigations into the material, agential, ideational, or structural. Using the synthesis of critical realism and constructivism, I illustrate by way of example by employing Pakistan's participation in the 'war on terror' as a case study. While constructivism can show that Pakistan's role in the war on terror was preceded by a legitimizing narrative, it is a critical realist depth analysis that sheds new light on how a complex social reality was achieved through the convergence of multi-causal explanatory factors.

This article investigates the theoretical added-value of critical realist incursions into International Relations constructivism. While constructivism focuses on providing multi-causal explanations, its conceptual horizon and subsequent methodological framework fundamentally obscure and limit the opportunity to conceptualize social dialectic and multi-causality in world politics. In this respect, a critical realist meta-theory can provide constructivism with a greatly expanded conceptual framework that transcends material-ideational divisions, and a framework that is able to envision more clearly the process of social dialectic. Second, critical realism affords a methodological diversity that can withstand simultaneous constructivist investigations into the material, agential, ideational, or structural. Using the synthesis of critical realism and constructivism, I illustrate by way of example by employing Pakistan's participation in the 'war on terror' as a case study. While constructivism can show that Pakistan's role in the war on terror was preceded by a legitimizing narrative, it is a critical realist depth analysis that sheds new light on how a complex social reality was achieved through the convergence of multi-causal explanatory factors. [Reprinted by permission; copyright Sage Publications Ltd. & ECPR-European Consortium for Political Research.]

This article raises the possibility of de- and reconstructing realist constructivism for the purpose of studying foreign policy, with an emphasis on explaining and forecasting change and continuity. I discuss why Samuel Barkin's explication of realist constructivism has in my view struggled to take off as an IR perspective and which tenets appear problematic, especially when applying them to foreign policy. I suggest a way of revitalising realist constructivism across three layers of theorising: political ontology, explanatory theory, and praxis. Constructivism's "open ontology"offers a meeting point with classical realism, together with its (less deterministic and more interpretivist) explanatory approach. Classical realism adds to the third layer with its focus on practice sensibility, including the choices actors make in highly uncertain contexts. Its strong interest in discovering the truth of politics is important here. I argue that such a synthesis, which is informed by Ned Lebow's conceptualisation of causation as "inefficient", could be well-suited to unpack the complex reality of foreign policy. I seek to make the case for realist constructivism as a dynamic thinking tool, among others when investigating the effects of material, intersubjective and subjective factors on foreign policy decisions and outcomes. While my propositions can only be sketched here, the goal is to encourage further debate about the value of realist constructivism, which has ebbed since the mid-2000s.

Comments that the issue of the Journal of European Public Policy on the social construction of Europe documents the arrival of social constructivism in EU studies & that this approach is taken seriously by an established journal. However, the term social constructivism remains deeply contested & is subject to construction & deconstruction by established scholars in the field such as Andrew Moravcsik & Steve Smith. Thus, the article argues with & against Smith that social constructivism constitutes the somewhat middle ground between the rationalist mainstream & more radical reflectivism or postmodernism. It then argues with & against Moravcsik that most theoretical claims derived from social constructivism in the special issue "compete with & should be tested against other mid-range theories" (Moravcsik 1999: 670). It is noted that good propositions about the conditions under which actors perceive external events as critical for their collective identities do not yet exist. 23 References. E. Larsen

Evidence suggests that business lobbying shapes European Union (EU) border security policies, but there has been no detailed empirical and theoretical work detailing how interest groups exert influence in this domain. Building on strategic constructivist accounts of policy-making, the article argues that EU border security policies have been tailored to the preferences, identities, and frames of business actors through three key processes. Policy preferences are co-constituted by business actors through strategic communication, identities are constructed to gain political legitimacy through strategic legitimation, and social contexts are framed to fit business interests through practices of strategic contextualisation. I use evidence from in-depth interviews with key actors in the field of EU border security policy-making, participant observation at key border security events, and analysis of key policy documents to build the argument.

The concept of identity and identity politics through the prism of the constructivist approach is considered. It is found out that the issue of national identity is becoming topical in the context of globalization. It is determined that the mechanism of identity protection at the level of nation-states is the formation and implementation of identity politics by government institutions.

It is noted that, despite the absence of a unified approach to the study and analysis of identity and identity politics, the constructivist paradigm is one of the most powerful modern tools for studying these phenomena. The interdisciplinary nature of the concept of identity, its borrowing from social psychology and further development within political science, philosophy, sociology are highlighted.

The polysemy of the concept of identity is identified. The features of the phenomena of identity and identity politics in the theories of researchers-constructivists are highlighted. The discursive nature of identity, in particular national ones, is defined. It is determined that the identity appears as a product of short-lived discourses that are struggling for power.

The role of national governments in constructing identity and implementation of the identity politics is emphasized. The goals of the institutions of power in the context of identity politics are substantiated.

The significance of the opposition «We – They», «friend – enemy» in the identity politics is substantiated. The role of symbols, rituals, mass ceremonies within the identity politics, which is a component of symbolic politics, is established. It is proved that the identity politics is based on the development of cultural meanings, in particular historical, geographical and other data, national memory, collective myths, as well as taking into account the specific context, indicating the constructed nature of identity and implementation of the relevant politics.