本體論為任何研究之始，能動者 / 結構爭論為以 Waltz 為首之結構現實主義與 Wendt 為代表之建構主義在本體論層次的重要歧異點之一，為此，兩派學者自 1980 年代末黨論戰迄今。儘管本體論的問題具有政治性，不見得有終極與明確的答案，但籍由本體論的討論可以讓吾人更能瞭解兩派理論在深層假設的異同。本文在敘明能動者/結構爭論在理論發展上的重要性後，進行爭論中相關重要概念——如能動者、能動性、結構等——的闡述，除追蹤這些概念在社會學上的根源..

All research begins with ontology. The agent/structure debate represents one of the most profound discrepancies and the least conclusive contests in this regard between Structural Realism and Constructivism since the late 1980s. Though politics is the terrain of competing ontology；definite and clear-cut answers are hardly attainable, a serious discussion on ontological issues can lead us to penetrate the assumptions deeply embedded in both theories. This article first examines theoretical significances in the agent/structure debate and ..

本文主要的目的在於爬梳社會科學方法論中因果機制分析的發展和演進，並進一步評估政治學研究中如何運用因果機制來進行解釋以及討論相關的解釋效力的問題。本文將具體評析政治學國際關係領域中民主和平論之論點，以此來衡量政治學運用因果機制解釋的優勢和侷限。因果機制研究層面上，本文聚焦在機制的定義和類型、機制的觀察性、因果機制與因果關係、法則和中介變數的差異、機制的層次、機制的運作和測量、機制的路徑圖。因果機制運用層面上，本文側重於民主和平論的源起和演進、 民主和平論的重要論述、對於民主和平論的挑戰以及..

The main purpose of this paper is to parse out the development and evolution of causal mechanism and to further evaluate how political research adopts the method of causal mechanism to explain and discuss the explanatory effect in the field of qualitative methods. Our focus is to shed light on the causal mechanism of democratic peace theory in the field of international relations and to gauge its advantages and restraints. On the dimension of causal mechanism, this paper focuses on the definition of mechanism, observation of causal mechanis..