Understanding

political
theory
By
Tripti Raj
Srija Singh
Nandini Parashar
Shreoshi Tarapdar
 The word
1. 'politics' is 2.
The word
politics was
derived from used to denote
the Greek word the affairs of the
polis, meaning polis.
city-state.

Origin of politics

The word Polis is 4th Century BC

3. classically 4. Scholar
understood to imply Aristotle wrote
the highest or most
desirable form of
a book named
social organization. 'Politics'.
 Difference between politics and political
Before delving into what is politics, it
would suffice to say that if politics
consists of five elements, suppose, A, B, C,
D and E, each of these are political.

The difference exists only

grammatically.

Generally speaking, politics and

political are one and the same. Put differently, the difference is
From here on, they will be used superficial.
interchangeably.
 Definitions by various thinkers…

Andrew Harold David easton

heywood lasswell

"Politics, in its broadest In the view of Harold “The authoritative

sense, is the activity Lasswell, Politics is allocation of values
through which people "who gets what, for a society."
make, preserve and when, how."
amend the general rules
under which they live in."
 Definitions by various thinkers…

Bernard Adrian
Vladimir lenin crick leftwich

"Politics comprises all the activities

“Politics is the most “Politics is a distinctive form of rule of co-operation, negotiation and
concentrated expression whereby people act together conflict within and between
societies, whereby people go about
of economics." through institutionalized procedures organizing the use, production or
to resolve differences, to conciliate distribution of human, natural and
diverse interests and values and to other resources in the course of the
make public policies in the pursuit of production and reproduction of
common purposes." their biological and social life."
 Different aspects of politics
From the above views, it is clear that there is no agreement on what is
political. Andrew Heywood has categorized politics into two categories
further divided into two viewpoints each.

1. Politics as an arena- Politics is associated with an arena or location, in which

case behaviour becomes ‘political’ because of where it takes place. Example:
Legislature.

i) Politics as the art of government- Political here is confined to the formal

institutions of the state, elected or otherwise. Some include all the three organs
of government while some are more narrow in their approach, excluding the
judiciary.

ii) Politics as public affairs- Here, public and private lives are two different
spheres. Public life is deemed as political whereas personal life is not. It is
broader than the previous as it includes both formal governmental institutions
like Judiciary, Legislature and Executive as well as political parties and other
groups.
 Different aspects of politics (contd)

2. Politics as a process- When talking about politics as a process. We

see that politics takes places in a continuum. It does not end
anywhere. It is valid for all social contexts, given, that the behaviour
is Political. Eg:- Social Movements.

iii) Politics as comprise and consensus- Politics is considered as an

instrument for resolving conflict and building consensus through
comprise. It can take place anywhere whether the sphere is private.

iv) Politics as power- This view explain how politics is the process
through which power is distributed and exercised in the society.
 Rajeev Bhargava’s view of ‘political’

“The term ‘political’ has multiple meanings:

(a) The collective power to take decisions about every aspect of the good life in
the community. Notice that ‘political’ here refers both to power and to ethical
values.

(b) The power of some groups to control or subordinate others in order to

realize not the good of the entire community but their own narrow interests. In
short, to get others to do things that might go against their own interest. Here,
the term ‘political’ is used to relate power and self-interest. It also refers to
power embodied in a separate institutional apparatus, i.e. the state and,
therefore,

(c) to state power used to realize the common good/values, or

(d) state power used to exercise domination by one group over other."
 What is theory?
The term “theory” is derived
from the Greek word “theoria”
which simply means systematic
knowledge

It is generally considered as a
separate
branch of political science which tries
to arrive at generalizations and
draws
inferences from the data/info about
political phenomena
gathered by various specialists
 George Sabine’s view of political theory
Sabine, a political theorist defined political theory
in both broad as well as narrow ways

Narrow sense Broad sense

In the narrow sense, In the broad sense,
Political Theory is the Political Theory is
disciplined investigation of anything about politics or
Political problems. relevant to politics.
 Scope of political theory
Political theory is one of the dimensions of Political Science. Generally speaking,
Political theory is the systematic study of politics/the political.
Study of Elections
Study of State and Political
participation
State has been the central focus
Study of interest group, Modern Political Scientists give
of study in Political Science. pressure group, civil importance to the Study of
elections, electoral politics,
How State originated, its nature
and purpose constitute the society and political voting behavior and
participation of the people in
Study of Political Science.
parties politics.

The Study of non-governmental Study of Power,

Study of Political and non-formal political groups
and institutions are major part Influence and
Thought and Ideologies of Political Science. Authority
Politics is the exercise of power in
The political philosophies of society. Hence, study of power
various political thinkers relations and interactions are
forms the part of the subject major area of study in Political
matter of Political Science. Theory.
 Difference between political theory and political
philosophy

Political theory Political philosophy

1. Political theory is the 1. There is no independent existence
determinant, independent of theory in state philosophy.
power.
2. Although theories are part of
2. Political theory relies political philosophy, they are
entirely on the information. not based on science or
information.
3. Political theory is value-
neutral, rational. 3.Political philosophy depends on
customs, traditions, and values.
4. In political theory, politics
4.Philosophy is the main thing in
is anointed with its own role.
political philosophy
 Types of
political theory
 Political theory is divided into 3 types

Normative Contemplative

Explanatory
Should vaccines be mandatory or not?
 NORMATIVE THEORY
It tries to explain or reflects a concern with what
‘should’, ‘ought’ or ‘must’ be brought about, rather
than with what ‘is’.
Helps to understand the value based questions .
Origins can be traced back to Ancient Greece and a
tradition usually
referred to as ‘political philosophy’.
 What an Ideal state should be?

plato aristotle
 Why should vaccines be
mandatory?

Why shouldn’t vaccines be

mandatory?

What will be the

consequences of both?
Explanatory
theory
Explains, discusses or elaborates a
particular idea.
May have different explanations .
 Example – Birth of Socio-economic formation
Karl Marx – Offered fundamental of social change

 Humans have a fundamental interest in improving their

material well-being and, therefore, in raising their level of
productivity.

 He believed that this interest explains why there is a

constant improvement in the level of productive forces.
However, he also believed that a thing became a
productive force only in use, and the use of productive
forces presupposes that human beings relate to each other
in particular ways.
 Weber - the Protestant ethic that emphasized a certain
degree of this-worldly asceticism and disciplined work was
crucial both for the accumulation of capital and an efficient
labour force and emergence of capitalism .
 ”
What does it mean to
contemplate?

— To think carefully about something

 Contemplative theory
‘The Human Condition’ – Hannah Arendt
She discusses a satellite, an earth-born, man-
made object stayed in skies, circled the earth
and ‘dwelt and moved in the proximity of the
heavenly bodies as though it had been
admitted tentatively to their sublime
company’.
‘Step toward escape from men’s
imprisonment to the earth’.
 Analytical and prediction.
Possibility of rejection.
Geocentric theory Holicentric theory

Nicolaus Copernicus
 EMPIRICAL THEORY
Empirical means based on observation and experiment;
empirical knowledge is derived from sense data and
experience.
A descriptive or empirical tradition can be traced back
to the earliest days of political thought .
It can be seen in Aristotle’s attempt to classify
constitutions , in Machiavelli’s realistic account of
statecraft, and in Montesquieu’s sociological theory of
government and law.
 HISTORICAL THEORY
Theory of history consists of the philosophical examination of all
the aspects of our descriptions, beliefs, and knowledge of the past
and is both descriptive and normative.

Theory of history poses (epistemological) questions concerning the

characteristics of our knowledge of the past, (methodological)
questions concerning how this knowledge is achieved and what
counts as 'quality' and as 'progress' of historical knowledge,
(ontological or metaphysical) questions concerning the mode of
being of 'the past', and (ethical, legal, and political) questions
concerning the uses of the past.
Can theories overlap?

Normative

Explanatory

Contemplative
Crisis in political
theory: debate on its
decline and resurgence
The debate on decline of Pol theory refers to
arguments that were advanced by few
theorists during the mid-twentieth century
regarding the continued relevance of the
traditional political theory.
 David easton Alfred cobban
Believed Pol theory was on decline. Along with Easton, he too believed
He points out that Political Theory Pol Theory was on decline.
lives parasitically on the ideas of He argued that Political Theory
others (century old ideas) had lost its significance in the
capitalist as well as communist
systems.

Views of thinkers on decline of pol theory

Reimer Peter laslett

He argued that Political Theory He believed that Political Theory
was in the doghouse. was already dead.
 Why did they have such views?
Due to the failure of Political
Theory to comprehend any of the
unprecedented social crisises
happening.

Political theory as a part of classical tradition had become

too loaded with value judgements that were beyond control
of empirical testing.
 David easton on decline of political theory

historicism Moral Confusion

relativism b/w science
and theory

It speaks to the exclusion of value from A/c to Easton Pol theorists

According to him theorists are political theory. The approach of empirical
more interested in describing simply gathered facts. he
science was adopted to turn political
the causes for rise of an science into science.
points out that mere use of
ideology, system of values etc. Easton was not in favor of completely scientific method cannot
avoiding the discussion of values. In his generate theories. The latter
They do not engage in
view, it is necessary to build a value task involves identifying major
stimulating their own thought to system. variables and establishing a
find solutions to contemporary That is why he thinks that the abandonment harmonious relationship
social problems. of values to make it too scientific has led to
between them.
the decline of political theory.
 Alfred Cobban on decline of pol theory

Condition of the Lack of

modern world purpose

For Alfred Cobban the lack of

According to Alfred Cobban
purpose among political
the increasing control of
scientists was another reason
bureaucracy and the huge
for decline. Political thinkers
military also led to killing of the
of the present had no
creativity of individuals as well
alternative vision because of
as decline of Political Theory
their factual orientations.
 Resurgence of political theory
It would not be right to come to the conclusion that political theory
has become unimportant or has declined.

It can be argued that Pol Theory in its most traditional sense was still
very much alive.

It is true that much of the earlier philosophical political theory has lost
its significance. However, the nature of political theory has changed
with the changing times and needs. This change in the nature of
motion cannot be called the end of political theory.

Towards the second half of the twentieth century, value-based

political theory was revived in the writings of Michael Oakeshott,
Hannah Ardent, Leo Strauss, Bertrand de Jouvenal, Eric Vogelin etc.
 Significance of political theory
Political Theory lets us/ provides us with-

CONCEPTUAL A SCOPE FOR NORMATIVE AND PROVIDE US WITH AN

CLARITY / SPECULATION ETHICAL ANALYSIS IDENTITY OF OUR
SENSITIVITY AND OWN
PREDICTION
 WHY NOT JUST HAVE REGION + TIME SPECIFIC
UNDERSTANDINGS OF STATE, GOVERNANCE, SOCIETY AND SO
ON, RATHER THAN GENERAL THEORIES

and

WHY DO WE NEED TO STUDY OLD POLITICAL THINKERS WHO

PROPOSED THESE THEORIES A LONG TIME BACK?
 Q) WHY A GENERAL THEORy…
 Political theories, and theories in general, help us to
SYSTEMATICALLY ANALYSE the happenings around us.

 If there were no common theory, and each government, state and

people were to follow their own systems, then were would be
utmost chaos.

 It would be difficult to align and co – relate the various parts of the

world and different people as each would follow a distinct system
from the other.

 Mind you that different forms of governance and state are still
distinct in every country – but they are all bound by common
political theories which guide them.
 Political theory

Grandfather/
grandmother
CHILD 1 Generation 1 Child 2
Generation 2 Generation 2
GEN 2 AND 3 THE
SEPARATE CONTEXT
DEPENDENT SYSTEMS
AROUND THE WORLD
WHICHARE DIFFERENT
FROM EACH OTHER
BUT STILL CONNECTED
AND GUIDED BY A
COMMON POLITICAL
THEORY (GEN 1 IN THIS
EXAMPLE)

Grandchild 1 Grandchild 2 Grandchild 3 Grandchild 4

Generation 3 Generation 3 Generation 3 Generation 3
 Q) WHY STUDY CLASSICAL
THINKERS...
There are certain values by which humans live or wish to
live, like freedom, equality, liberty, justice and so on.

We believe in such values because we always aspire for a

better society to live in.

Thinkers debate and deliberate on such values to

ascertain which will help us live better lives.

The questions they have raised are eternal

Their works have timeless appeal; they are relevant at all
times and will be as long as we keep debating and
discussing human conditions.

We don’t read their works to find solutions to today’s

problem, rather we read them to make available to
ourselves ‘ baskets of substances to think about’.
 What is political? What is pol theory? Types of pol theory
1. Heywood, A. (2013) 'What is Politics?', in 1. ‘Why do we need Politicial theory
Politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1- ?’ in Bhargava R and Acharya A -
26. Page no. 29-31
2. Bhargava, R. (2008) ‘What is Political Theory’, 2. ‘Politics’ by Andrew Heywood -
in Bhargava, R. and Acharya, A. (eds),
Chapter 1 ; Page no. 12
Political Theory: An Introduction. New Delhi:
Pearson Longman, pp. 2-16
3. PPT made by Chandrachur Sir

references

Decline of pol theory and resurgence Why do we need/ significance of pol theory
1. Political Theory ideas and concepts- Reading material (college)
Sushila Ramaswamy
2. An intro to Pol Theory- O.P Gauba
3. www.schoolofpoliticalscience.com
4. www.jstor.com
Thank you!