The Nature of Political Theory

20 The Nature of Political Theory

general and inclusive sense), often see their own discipline as the very acme of the
study of politics. Some doubts will, however, be registered on this point.
I will first offer a brief, very formal sketch of certain common regulative themes
and traditions of classical normative political theory and indicate how many twentieth
century theories perceive that tradition. Second, some doubts will also be registered
as to how far we can successfully utilize this older structure of thought.
In terms of the first point: there is usually an open and explicit avowal by many (but
not all), in the late nineteenth and twentieth-century academic politics profession,
that there are a series of perennial or universal concerns, which go back to ancient
Greek civilization, which can be focused under the rubric of normative political the-
ory. Political theory, literally and etymologically, therefore, appears to be the science
of thePolis(city state). Consequently, there is a conventional canon of theorists,
from Plato to the present day, who are seen to be part of a common and enduring
normative enterprise, focused on the Polis (often translated as a state in nineteenth
and early twentieth century theory). Political philosophy can thus be considered, for
some, as a universal or timeless enterprise. It exists, in a formal sense, when reflection
reaches a certain level of systematic sophistication and self-criticism. It focuses on the
coherence, internal and external relations, and ends of social or communal existence,
usually with a view to prescribing how we ought to live in future. Standardly, these sys-
tematic reflections will be generated from within contingent political circumstances,
however, they are usually seen to have repercussions and implications well beyond
those circumstances. Political theory therefore describes our situation and prescribes
what ends or purposes should be sought in political life and how we might attain them.
On a purely regulative level, a number of common themes characterize the enter-
prise of classical normative political theory. Primarily, there are concerns focusing
on our present social condition, its origin and what precisely we should value in our
present situation. Thus, there is a general interest in the nature and role of public
institutions—particularly with regard to the state, state surrogates or the governing
structures—and the public rules and primary values (such as justice or freedom),
which have a powerful effect on the lives of all citizens within the boundaries of
the community. There is a strong sense of the ontological, moral, and practical
significance of political or communal life over any other form of human existence.
Non-political pursuits are, in essence, seen to be enabled, protected, controlled, and
nurtured within an adequate political sphere.^2 Political life is, though, commonly
seen as the key condition for the realization of a ‘good life’—a life where the human
being can attain well-being and flourish. In consequence, classical normative political
theory involves the systematic search for the best structures and means to achieve this
good life and flourishing. In turn, this conception of the good invokes and utilizes
forceful suppositions about human nature and establishes how these suppositions
can be developed or fulfilled in political structures. Thus, the choice of a particular
political form of life and a conception of human nature frequently go together. Over-
all, there is an underlying preoccupation with the nature of human beings and what
we might expect, or not expect, from them. The structure and nature of political
institutions will therefore depend heavily on the reading of human capabilities and