2 We Have a Firm Foundation
Part One deals with five conceptions of political theory that have marked out the
terrain of the discipline during the twentieth century and still penetrate the general
perception of its nature. Each conception embodies a foundational component—
a definite ground on which the discipline can build and find sustenance. The five
elements of theory are classical normative, institutional, historical, empirical, and
ideological political theory. It is important to realize these are somewhat arbitrarily
demarcated. There are considerable overlaps and crossovers between these elements,
thus one should not see them as wholly discrete ideas. However, they are distinct
enough, in their various formats and aims, to be considered independently. The
discussion of each will, however, draw attention to crossovers. These conceptions of
theory have also tended to mark out different dimensions of the profession of theory
as it developed during the twentieth century. As indicated in the introduction, there
is a weak sense of chronology underlying this analysis—weak in the sense that there
is a sequence of sorts, but, at the same time, all nonetheless coexist simultaneously
within the discipline of politics by the second half of the twentieth century.
Classical Normative Political Theory
The present discussion of classical normative theory will only provide a perfunctory
overview. The idea of classical normative political theory is the intellectual template
for later twentieth century conceptions of normative theory, in particular from the
1970s. The latter concern forms the bulk of the discussion of the book.^1 In examin-
ing late twentieth century forms of normative theory I will, though, draw further
distinctions between thicker and thinner normative forms, as well as between self-
consciously universalist and more conventionalist variants of normative theory. Many
of these distinctions have antecedents in mid- to late-twentieth century perceptions of
the older variants of classical normative theory. Further, classical normative political
theory—in the older sense—may also be described aspartlythe creation of nineteenth
and twentieth century theory. This latter point will also be briefly touched upon at
the end of this section and further explored in the sections on historical and institu-
tional political theory. However, initially, a working distinction is drawn between the
older structures of classical normative political theory and the late twentieth century
renditions of it. It is the former which will be the focus of this section. However, it
is still important to realize that exponents of normative political theory (in the most