社會科學理論的建構和演進，基本上受到時代環境和思想傳承兩方面因素的影響，以思想傳承脈絡為經，時代環境段落為緯，我們可以描繪出社會科學理論較為清晰完整的面貌，並對其相關意涵有比較深刻的認識。同時，從「範式移轉」的角度來看，國家發展研究在不同時期呈現出不同的主流範式或主流觀點，這些範式或觀點可以藉由某個具有主導性意義的概念來簡明的標舉。本文認為，現代化、依賴、世界體系、發展型國家和全球化，分別標誌了第二次世界大戰之後國家發展研究不同時期的主導概念，它們各自代表著不同的研究範式或理論觀點，並意味著不同的政策主張，但基本上都可以從現代性的傳播和回應來理解。

The construction and evolution of the theories in social sciences are influenced primarily by two aspects, namely, historical context and theoretical heritage. Taking historical context and theoretical heritage into account, we will be able to describe the features and comprehend the related implications of the theories. From the perspective of “paradigm shift”, we can figure out dominant paradigms or perspectives in the study of national development for different periods of time and present them concisely with relevant leading concepts. This article intends to point out these leading concepts. The author’s argument is that modernization, dependency, the world-system, the developmental state and globalization mark out the leading concepts in the study of national development for different periods of time since the end of the Second World War. These leading concepts represent different research paradigms and suggest different policy implications. All of these evolutions, however, can be understood as the diffusions and responses of modernity.