Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- From paradigms to realist/constructivist synthesis -- Plan of the book -- 2 Definitions -- Realism -- Constructivism -- 3 Materialism -- Materialism and realism -- Materialism, idealism, and opposition -- Materialism and transhistorical laws -- Constructivism, liberalism, and Marxism -- Historical contingency, epistemology, and ontology -- So what? -- 4 The logic of the social -- Rationalism -- The logic of appropriateness -- Appropriateness and agency -- The logic of the social -- Liberalism, deconstruction, and the social -- So what? -- 5 The public interest -- The public interest -- Interest and utopia -- Power politics and the public interest -- A critical public interest? -- So what? -- 6 The constraints of the social -- The limits of power -- Reflexivity -- Constructivism and theories of politics -- Methodology and the social -- 7 Agency -- Theorizing agency -- Agency, constructivism, and human nature -- Agency, co-constitution, and change -- So what? -- 8 The limits of realism -- Realism and the great debates -- Prediction and description -- Realism and foreign policy -- Realism and normative theory -- Conclusion -- 9 The limits of constructivism -- Constructivism and normative theory -- Theory imperialism -- Overtheorizing -- Conclusion -- 10 Constructivism and realism -- Definitions and international relations theory -- Constructivism -- Realism -- Multidimensionality -- Pluralism -- Constructivism and realism -- Compatibilities and differences -- What they have to offer each other -- References -- Index.