柔性平衡理論以不同於傳統平衡論的觀點解讀國家行為與互動，其認為國家在威脅不明或與他國利益相連等情況下，將透過迂迴隱晦的方式進行平衡。該理論近年來在國際關係學界中漸受關注，研究者們不僅運用其解讀現實案例，也對理論內涵提出許多評述與論辯。本文在回顧既有論著的基礎上探討該理論之內容並檢視各類平衡策略形態，以期呈現柔性平衡理論當前的整體發展狀況，並釐清其內容中的爭議處，以推動後續研究的進一步深化。  

The theory of “soft balancing” deals with the actions and interactions among states that is different from traditional balancing theories. The former features a belief that states achieve balances among themselves in indirect and covert ways under uncertain threats and interests pegged with other states. During the past few years, the theory of soft balancing has gradually gained prominence in academic circles of international relations. Researchers not only apply the theory while interpreting actual cases, but al..

在國際關係理論中，以主權國家為前提，以理性選擇為途徑，這種採用國家是單一理性行為體的假設，在解釋國際合作與否時，已經面臨到一些挑戰，換言之，非國家行為體亦扮演重要角色。另外，由新現實主義和新自由主義共同假定的制度結構，在日趨複雜的現實世界中，也不能完全理解真實國際社會合作發生的原因。因此，本文嘗試引用認知理論，藉共同認知變項的提出，並結合共同利益變項，透過整合制度結構和認知轉化的過程，導出一種國際合作框架。在驗證部份，本文採用賽局理論和列舉實際案例，說明制度..

In international relations, some theories explain international cooperation almost solely based on sovereign states and a presumed approach of rational choice. However, these hypotheses assume a state-actor, as a rational unit, will meet some unforeseen challenges, thus we need a non-state actor as another variable. Furthermore, an institutional structure of neo- realism’s and neo-liberalism’s hypothesis do not fully illustrate how international cooperation occurs in the real world. So we adopt both the cognitive ..