This article develops a model for causal explanations amenable to interpretive International Relations (IR) research. A growing field of scholars has turned toward causal inquiry while stressing the importance of shared understandings, identities, and social practices for their explanations. This move has considerable potential to strengthen the contributions of interpretive approaches to IR. However, the article identifies shortcomings in the causal models on which this research is based which work to limit this potential. The article provides a detailed discussion of these limitations and offers an alternative model of causal explanations for interpretive IR. The proposed model builds on a clear differentiation between constitutive and causal analysis and supplies an explicit argument for how they can be combined to generate causal explanations. This paves the way for a more well-defined notion of causal explanation than has commonly been the case in interpretive IR. In doing so, it also offers a more coherent and detailed account of the points at which interpretive explanations intersect with more mainstream approaches and where they differ. Finally, the paper outlines an application of the model through a discussion on an updated form of interpretive process tracing (IPT).

本文开发了一种适用于解释性国际关系（IR）研究的因果解释模型。越来越多的学者转向因果探究，同时强调了共同的理解，身份和社会实践对其解释的重要性。此举具有很大的潜力，可以加强解释性方法对投资者关系的贡献。但是，本文指出了本研究基于的因果模型中的缺陷，这些缺陷会限制这种潜力。本文提供了对这些限制的详细讨论，并为解释性IR提供了因果解释的替代模型。所提出的模型建立在本构和因果分析之间的清晰区分的基础上，并为如何将它们组合以产生因果解释提供了明确的论据。与解释性IR的情况相比，这为更明确定义因果解释的概念铺平了道路。在此过程中，它还对解释性解释与主流方法的相交之处以及它们之间的不同之处提供了更为连贯和详细的说明。最后，本文通过讨论解释性过程跟踪（IPT）的更新形式，概述了该模型的应用。