A state has two dimensions: as a civilizational entity and as an organizational entity. Mainstream theories of international relations fail to grasp the civilizational dimension of a state, while the civilization school advocated by Samuel Huntington and others discusses civilizations in a broad manner without integrating the organizational dimension of a state. An approach combining both civilizational and organizational dimensions will not only help reexamine the typology of states, but also make it theoretically possible to understand the nexus between human behaviors and state behaviors as well as between interpersonal relations and international relations. More importantly, the new perspective may overcome some limitations of mainstream international relations theories and provide analytic tools for explaining the behaviors of rising non-Western states with long civilizational traditions such as China and India.