Pol.theory Imp

Political Theory
Meaning of Political theory-: It is

a branch of political science under which scientific
analysis is made of political institutions, political
events and political facts etc. it is not concerned
with the explanation of the facts only, rather its
purpose is also to draw some conclusion after
making the analysis of political events, political
institutions, political system and political
behaviour etc on the basis of which we can
visualise of an ideal state, ideal government and
other ideal institutions.
Definitions…………………
According to David Held, political theory is a ‘network of

concepts and generalizations about political life involving
ideas, assumptions and statements about the nature,
purpose and key features of government, state and society,
and about the political capabilities of human beings’
Andrew Hacker defines it as ‘a combination of a

disinterested search for the principles of good state and
good society on the one hand, and a disinterested search for
knowledge of political and social reality on the other’
We can sum up the meaning of political theory by referring
to the comprehensive definition given by Gould and Kolb
who say that it is ‘a sub-field of political science which
includes:
1. Political philosophy—a moral theory of

politics and a historical study of political
ideas.
2. A scientific criterion.
3. A linguistic analysis of political ideas.
4. The discovery and systematic development
of generalizations about political behaviour.
Nature of Political Theory
 Political theory has standard component
 Political theory is a branch of political science
 Political theory is neither political thought nor
political ideology nor political philosophy
 To establish consistency and coherence out of
diversity is the main of political theory
Scope Of Political Theory
 Study of political theories
 Study of political institutions
 Study of the speculative aspect of political
institutions
 Study of ethical aspect of political material
 Study of the sociological factors
 Study of the legal factors
 Study of the scientific factors
 To determine relation between causes and effects
 Study of the positive and negative aspect
Different View Points About
Political Theory
Different view points about political theory can
be divided into the following headings
 Ancient political theory
 Traditional political theory
 Modern political theory

Nature Of Ancient Political Theory
 Mixture of the ideas of many political thinkers
 Lack of consistency in their views
 Normative nature
 State was central to their study
 State is a moral institution
 No distinction between the state and the society
 Philosophical view point
 Condemnation of democracy
Importance of Ancient Political
Theory
 Foundation of the development of political
theory
 Use of comparative methods
 Condemnation of sham democracy
 Provide basis for the classifications of
government
 Laid the foundation of secular state
 State is a moral, natural and welfare institution
 Ideals have their own importance
Nature of Traditional political
theory
 Normative study
 Legal formal and institutional study
 Value based study
 Descriptive study
 Monographic study
 Essentially non-comparative study
 Concept of territorial state
 Distinction between state, society and government
 Development of democrative principles
 Development of the concept of secular state
 Changing nature of the state
 Interpretation of the theory of sovereignty
 Development of the concept of rights
 Interpretation of the concept of law
 Tracing of the origin of the state
 Birth of ideologies
 Classification of government
Importance of Traditional
Political Theory
 Traditional political thinkers developed
political science as an independent subject
 The supporters of traditional political theory
have given birth to so many new concepts
 Made clear distinction between the state and
society, and state and government
 Provided a sound basis for the development of
modern political theory
 Gave birth to so many new political ideologies
Nature of Modern Political
Theory
 Behavioral study
 Empirical study
 Value free study
 Inter-disciplinary study
 Scientific study
 Analytical study
 System oriented study
 Use of new terminology and new concepts
 Study of political system
 Power is made central to politics
 Study of influence
 Study of the authoritative allocation of values
 Study of problems and conflicts
 Study of consensus and co-operation
 Politics is the study of whop gets, what, when
and how
 Study of decision-making process
Change in The Modern View
 End of the dichotomy of normative and
empirical aspect of political theory
 Abandonment of the mad craze of scienticism
 An attempt to make political theory an applied
science
 Political theory should become policy science
 Political theory can not be made value free
Importance of Modern Political
Theory
 The scope of political theory has become very
vast
 The supporters of modern political theory have
given birth to so many new concepts
 Now it has become a living subject from a
dead subject
developed new methods and tools
 modern political theory laid emphasis on
interdisciplinary study
tried to make it value free
Distinction between Political Theory
and Political Science
Meaning of political science
 Traditional view point-: political science is the
study of state and government and the study of

various aspects of the state and government is
its subject matter.
 Modern view point-: the modern thinkers have
brought all such activities under the scope of
political science which are concerned with
power, influence authority, shaping and
sharing of power etc and with all this the scope
of political science has become quit vast.
Today all the political activities, from
individual upto the world have become the
subject matter of political science.
 Political science is a independent subject
whereas political theory is branch of it
 Political theory is the so what? Department of
political science
 Difference in their subject matter
 Political theory make political science a
science
 Difference in their method of study
 Political science has many branches whereas
political theory has none
 Political is institutional study whereas political
theory is conceptual study
 The study of political science is analytical
whereas the study political science is
explanatory
 Theory building is the field of political theory
not political science
Conclusion
There is no doubt that there are many
differences between political science and
political theory, but there is as close
relationship between these two as there is
between body and soul. Through political
theory is not an independent subject, yet we
can certainly call it the soul of political
science.
Thank you
Anjan Sarma
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Bhattadev University,Bajali

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Political Theory

Meaning of Political theory-: It is

According to David Held, political theory is a ‘network of

Andrew Hacker defines it as ‘a combination of a

1. Political philosophy—a moral theory of

 Traditional political theory

 Modern political theory

study of state and government and the study of

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