本文析述1990年代初期舊蘇聯解體和東歐共黨政權垮台，以及長達半世紀之久的冷戰結束後，國際關係學界所引發的理論爭辯：批判理論對主流派的新現實主義之抨擊，以及之前批判理論衍生的建構主義之間的爭論。文中不但對學界幾次的論辯有所析評，也詳述建構主義的國關理論湧現成派的過程，更點出建構主義引進理念因素來取代傳統物質利益（諸如國家安全、權力擴張、無政府狀態下的世局等）的主張。除了強調國家作為行動體與國際（以及國內）環境的相互建構之外，還強調國家與跨國社團（例如跨公司、非政府的民間組織）的權力運作和社會實踐，以及國際社會運動、觀念和思潮對寰球政治發生了建構的作用。建構主義的議題包括行動者與國際社會的結構之相互建構、無政府狀態的銓釋、世界政治中認同體與利益的界定和世局丕變的因由等。

This essay deals with the recent development of constructivist approach to international relations (IR) studies since 1990. Its emergency represents a new trend and upshot of theoretical debates among IR scholars of the last three decades. Against the mainstream of IR theories the constructivists emphasize that the actors of IR are not only nation-states, but include non-governmental organizations and international corporations. It attacks the conventional concept of the international anarchy which has been treated as the lack of controlling power and authority on the world stage and the result of mutual construction of the relevant nation-states. Further, it claims that the interpretative ＂how＂ questions of reality should replace the traditional ＂why＂ questions of causal explanation. It stresses that the role of international variables, such as beliefs, identities, meaning structures etc., are more relevant to the shaping of international and global economy than the so-called material interest (national interest, security, balance of power, etc.). Last but not least, constructivism presumes that the scholars should be looking for communities of inter-subjectivity in world politics because within which actors share understanding of each other and among themselves, yielding predictable and reliable patterns of action within a specific context and reducing tensions and conflicts to the minimum among the contending nations.