Reasons For the Decline of Political Theory [4 important factors ]

The decline of Political Theory in Political science refers to the decline of the traditional or normative political theory in nature. Traditional political theory is inextricably linked with political philosophy.

There was no boundary between political theory and political philosophy in ancient political discourse.

That is why; traditional political theory is philosophical. According to many modern political scientists, the usefulness of this philosophical political theory has diminished.

In ancient Greece, philosophers like Plato, and Aristotle appeared in the period of revolutionary social change. The writings of famous British philosophers like Hobbes, and Locke became active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when England was plagued by religious and political conflicts.  

The same is true of eighteenth-century in France (Rousseau) and also the contribution of Bentham, J.S Mill in the context of England’s socio-economic conditions.

In the same way that Marx’s advent was due to the European Industrial Revolution and the exploitation of workers.

In the middle of the twentieth century, there was a great deal of conflict in the social sphere and a process of cultural change. Nevertheless, no significant new political philosophy has emerged or developed in any country in the world.

And this is exactly why David Easton and Alfred Cobban have spoken about the decline of political theory. Even in the opinion of Peter Laslett and Robert Dahl, political theory has died out.

To better understand the reasons for the decline and death of political theory, a discussion of the following political scientists is essential. They are David Easton, Alfred Cobban, Dante Germino, Isaiah Berlin, and S.M. Lipset.

David Easton’s Argument on the Decline of Political Theory (4 factors)

According to David Easton, the usefulness of pre-nineteenth-century normative political theory (Value-based Political Theory) has now declined significantly.

Easton pointed out four reasons (Factors) for this decline in political theory. They are discussed below one by one.

1. Historicism

Researchers on former political theories have been confined to ancient political ideas. They have devoted themselves entirely to the discussion of conventional values ​​of the past.

All these political scientists have shown no interest in developing any new political values. The history of values ​​has not been refined in the work of rearranging political goals. This has led to the erosion of value-based political theories.

It is for this reason that Easton has sharply criticized former political scientists such as Dunning, Sabine, Lindsay, and McIlwaine. They all have developed their theories based on historical analysis.

According to Easton, this class of political scientists has spent too much time emphasizing the political ideologies of the past. There has been a lack of interest among them in developing and interpreting new doctrines.

Rather, they are more interested and enthusiastic in explaining the development of past and present political values, and in combining information about the meaning and underlying consistency of all these values.

For this reason, Easton has said that after Karl Marx and J. S. Mill, there have been no other outstanding political philosophers.

2. Moral Relativism

It speaks to the exclusion of value from political theory. In the middle of the twentieth century, the approach of empirical science was adopted to turn political science into science. The main principle of empirical science is value neutrality.

Easton, however, is not in favor of completely avoiding the discussion of values. In his view, it is necessary to build a value system with a sensitive attitude toward the important problems of society.

That is why he thinks that the abandonment of values to make it too scientific has led to the decline of political theory.

3. Confusion between Science and Theory/ Crazy for Science

One of the reasons for the decline of political theory is the over-reliance on scientific methods to elevate political science to the level of science.

The conventional idea is that science and theory are synonymous. In reality, it is not right. The application of scientific methods and the creation of theories based on research are not synonymous.

Modern political scientists use the scientific method of gathering information on a subject, but cannot explain all the factors that are at work behind the phenomenon.

For this reason, Easton speaks of gathering information based on theoretical hypotheses. There is no guarantee that a theory can be developed through research if a scientific method is applied to a subject.

Misconceptions about science and theory have been around for a long time in the late twentieth century. It is important to remember that theory can transcend science.

The application of scientific methods in research work is indeed especially important. But scientific research does not mean the emergence of a theory.

4. Hyper Factualism

In David Easton’s view, political science has long been obsessed with facts and information. The influence of this trend is also observed in the discussion of political science in the twentieth century.

There is no doubt that in recent times, political scientists have shown remarkable success in inventing and applying complex methods of understanding public opinion, electoral conduct, parliamentary leadership, and so on.

But they could not provide any theoretical dimension to their research studies. Easton calls this situation “Theoretical mal-nutrition and a surfeit of facts”.

Alfred Cobban’s Views on the Decline of Political Theory

According to Cobban, the trend of intellectual heritage continued in the West for more than two and a half thousand years. During this time the process of interaction between ideology and institutions also continued. Both changed and refined due to the impact on each other.

But no such synthesis or coordination has been observed in modern political theory. This process has been off for some time. According to Cobban, this process came to a halt in the late eighteenth century.

Cobban has identified some of the issues that hinder the way of political theory in modern times. These are-

• Unrestricted expansion of the scope of state activities.
• The totalitarian control of the bureaucracy over all the activities of the society.
• The creation of a large-scale military organization.

Cobban discusses the situation in communist countries differently. In all these countries the undisputed supremacy of the almighty Communist Party is established. In terms of the organizational structure of the party, the rule of a small number of people was established.

The ultimate power is concentrated in the hands of the party chief. He/she is to be the party’s chief super-bureaucrat.

A system of repression was developed within the party. This party organization or system is no less powerful than the military organization or system.

In such a state system, it is never possible to come out of that organizational ideology and build a political theory.

Cobban thinks the picture is no different in Western democracies also. Democracy is the dominant political ideology in the Western world. This idea developed in the eighteenth century.

No attempt was made to refine this political idea in the nineteenth century given the changing circumstances and needs. There is no such thing as a political theorist of democracy. Instead of developing democracy, political ideologies like nationalism, communism, fascism, etc. appeared in the nineteenth century.

According to Cobban, one of the reasons for this decline in political theory is the lack of specific goals or objectives among political scientists.

Every famous political philosopher in the past has practiced political issues with a real purpose and to influence actual political behavior (Aristotle, Plato, Bentham, Mill, Locke, Marx, etc). But their absence can be noticed in modern political theory.

Dante Germino and Ideological Reductionism

Like David Easton and Alfred Cobban, Dante Germino in his book ‘Beyond Ideology: The Rival of Political Theory’, also thinks that political theory declined for most of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century.

Although Germino thinks that political theory declined due to positivism and he believes that idealism is responsible for the decline of political theory over time.

However, in addition to the earlier decline, he spoke of the existence of ideologies and political doctrines, and Marxism in its infancy. To him, the ideological reductionism of Tracy is one of the most important causes of the decline of political theory, Comte and Karl Marx.

Isaiah Berlin and S.M Lipset

According to them the main reason for the decline of political theory is the triumph of the democratic social revolution in the West.

Triumph of democracy in the sense of triumph of liberal democratic discourse over other discourses.

The universal acceptance of liberal democracy leads to the end of this debate on the decline of political theory is over. And due to this triumph, to quote Lipset, “The age of old search for the good society has been terminated, for we have got it now.”

Berlin and Lipset say together “If the classical political theory has died, perhaps it has been killed by the triumph of democracy”.

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Conclusion

From the above discussion on the decline of political theory, it can be concluded that generally, the decline of political theory means the decline of the normative or philosophical political theory which is based on values.

In another way, you can say that it refers to the decline of the value-oriented political theory. But in the social sciences, the question arises as to how reasonable it is to construct a theory without value.

That is why, during the mid-twentieth century, political theory almost died. And questions were circulating among political scientists about how to prevent the decline of political theory.

Finally, this question was settled by John Rawls’ famous book “A Theory of Justice”, published in 1971. The normative method gained importance in rebuilding political theory and political theory also escaped death.

So it can be said that after the 1970s, there has been a resurgence of political theory in political science.

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References

1. Mahajan, V. Political theory. 5th ed. India: S Chand & Company Ltd, 2015.
2. Bhargava, Rajeev. Political Theory: an Introduction. Pearson Education India, 2008.