Actor, structure, process: transcending the state personhood debate by means of a pragmatist ontological model for International Relations theory

The following article refers to the current debate about state personhood opened by Wendt's claim for a treatment of states as real persons in order to prevent the reductionist argument that states only are treated 'as if' they were persons. By understanding phenomena like states consistently as structures - as 'structures of corporate practice' - we argue that there is a possibility to escape from the situation dually framed by Wendt. This alternative is constituted by a tripartite pragmatist ontological model that consists of actors, structures of corporate practice, and processes. After having presented our view of the debate and its central problems in a first step, we will set forth our model and its implications for the study of international relations in a second and third step.