國立臺灣大學政治科學論叢

Abstract / Chinese PDF Download

The September 11 incident has an enormous impact on international relations theories. Towards the  end  of  the  Cold  War,  neoliberalism  had  mounted  attack  on realism, the hitherto dominant paradigm in the field. With the end of the Cold War, constructivism joined the assault on realism. The September 11 incident apparently shows the validity of Samuel P. Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theorem. Can realism survive this whole series of assault in the post-Cold War, post-September 11 world? This is the main concern of the article in which we explore the root of the September  11  attack,  the  impact  on  realism,  and  the  way  international  system responds to the shock. We find the September 11 attack was motivated by Islamic anti-modernization radicalism, which testifies the validity of Huntington’s “clash of civilizations”  paradigm.  However,  the  response  from  the  international  system, whether  the  Bush  Doctrine  with  its  strategy,  operation  mode,  and  impact,  or  the response  to  the  Bush  Doctrine  by  the  world  countries,  clearly  follows  realist postulates. Hence the validity of realism as an approach to international relations is vindicated by the September 11 incident and its impact.