建構主義是近幾年來逐漸在國際關係理論中受到重視的學派，它的一些概念挑戰了新現實主義與新自由主義，強調國際社會除了物質力量之外，還有觀念力量的存在。對於世界政治，如無政府狀態、安全困境以及民主和平論，建構主義提出了自己的解釋方式。 建構主義對國際關係理論的貢獻，除了將國家間的差異性、文化和國內政治重新引進國際關係的研究中，從而為分析解釋國際關係的變化提供思路之外，它囊括被主流理論排斥外在的種種旁支理論，而且具有巨大的潛力來吸納主流理論。此外，建構主義由於起步較晚，內部存在著各個派別之間的分歧。雖然以「認同」研究為基礎開闢了國際關係一個重要的研究領域，但是建構主義至今尚未建立起關於「認同」產生發展的系統理論。總的來說，建構主義在國際關係理論上的定位，已與新現實主義和新自由主義並列而成為冷戰結束後國際關係理論的三大主要理論。

Recently, Researchers in theories of international relations have gradually paid much attention to Constructivism. The concept of Constructivism challenges Neo-realism and Neo-liberalism, emphasizing not only material power but also ideal power in the international community. Constructivism explains phenomena of world politics, for example, anarchy, security dilemma, and democratic peace theory. The value of Constructivism for international relations theory shows two aspects. First, the different character of nations, culture and domestic politics have been adopted again to explain international relations. Second, Constructivism integrates some negligible or marginal international relations theories (critical theory, post-modernism) and mainstream theories (neo-realism and neo-liberalism). Besides, constructivism, due to its internal theoretical disputes, has been divided into different schools of thought. Constructivism regards identity and culture as important concept to analyze international relations, on the other hand constructive lacks of building a systematical framework about identity and culture. To sum up, constructivism, Neo-realism, and Neo-liberalism have become three mainstream theories of international relations after Cold War.