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As a theory of international relations, constructivism arose as a critique of existing  approaches. Scholars began working in this new vein in the 1980s and 1990s, taking aim  at the rationalist arguments of liberals and realists who have long argued that patterns  of international relations could best be explained by examining actors’ material interests. These rationalist perspectives differ as to the sources of these interests—usually  the structure of the international system, frameworks of domestic politics, or international institutions affecting market activity—but largely view actors as having stable  identities and interests that are independent of other actors, even if their strategies for  pursuing them involve expectations of others’ likely behavior.