This chapter sets out an inquiry about the ways in which realist constructivism (RC) may offer better causal explanations than classical realism and constructivism on their own, framing the discussion within what these approaches have to say for the analysis of international relations. The main argument developed here is that RC has a strong potential for providing more comprehensive causal explanations. It offers the possibility of combining classical realism's account of interactionality related to the type of rationalism tied up to power politics, in which agency acquires a significant causal role, and constructivism's account of causal emergence, where social context is analyzed in depth and the causal role of normative structures is highlighted. Yet, it also argues that such RC potential for providing better causal explanations faces the challenge of addressing the causal power of agency, while simultaneously acknowledging the causal power of structure (which in turn demands resorting to bracketing one or the other in order to understand their process of co-constitution and causation). In addition, I show that RC needs to incorporate interpretivism in order to give better accounts of causation, which from a critical realist and constructivist standpoint is crucial for understanding the causal powers of both agency and structure.

The chapter begins by providing a definition of what is to be understood as causation and a ‘better’ causal explanation for the argument hereby stressed, for which a critical realist approach to it will be set out. Subsequently, the chapter addresses the accounts of causation of some classical realisms and constructivisms, focusing respectively on interactionality and agents’ rationality related to power politics, and causal emergence related to social context and normative structures. In a fourth section, the chapter analyzes some realist constructivist approaches to particular case studies where causal relationships are suggested, assessing both RC's potential for providing more encompassing causal explanations and its limitations in simultaneously analyzing the causal powers of both agency and structure. Finally, the chapter argues for the importance of bringing into RC an interpretive account of causation that would help generate a better understanding of both interactionality and emergence, as it is more in line with a critical realist account of causation – arguably, the approach to causation that is more coherent with a realist constructivist understanding of international relations.