Framing the Threat

2 Constructivism

The paradigm on which this study is based needs to be defined at the outset. The first step in this part, therefore, is outlining the ontology, epistemology and methodology on which the subsequent analysis relies. This involves defining the assumptions that are made about what constitutes reality, how we know about reality and how we can best proceed to learn about it with regard to particular research questions. It is crucial to define these assumptions because, as Alexander Wendt puts it, “how we answer ‘what causes what?’ will depend in important part on how we first answer ‘what is there?’ and ‘how should we study it?’” (Wendt 1999: 5). Following this line, this chapter sets out the theoretical and epistemological foundations ...