The Problem of Method in Political Theory

Abstract

This article focuses on the problem of methodology in political theory and employs a self-narrative approach to explore how the discipline’s lack of explicit engagement with method poses challenges for both new students and established scholars in the field. Rather than being a method-oriented study in the traditional sense, the article is a reflexive, narrative-oriented examination of the problem of method within political theory itself. Drawing on a personal experience during my MA in the History of Political Thought, I examine political theory’s longstanding reluctance to confront and critically assess the methodological tools that underlie its own research practices, as well as the intellectual and pedagogical consequences of this reluctance. I argue that this tendency arises from several interrelated factors, and that it ultimately reflects political theory’s failure to apply critical thinking—one of the discipline’s defining features—to its own methodological foundations. Finally, I call for a more sustained and reflexive approach that foregrounds methodological awareness in political theory, contending that such an approach could move the discipline beyond its closed “dialogue of the deaf” and toward more productive interdisciplinary engagement.

Keywords

• Political theory
• Methodology
• Self-reflexivity
• Methodological reflexivity

Siyaset Teorisinde Yöntem Sorunu

Abstract

Bu makale, siyaset teorisindeki metodoloji sorunu üzerine eğilmekte ve disiplinin yöntemle açık bir şekilde ilgilenmemesinin alana hem yeni gelen öğrenciler hem de yerleşik akademisyenler için ne türden zorluklar teşkil ettiğini öz-anlatı yaklaşımını kullanarak araştırmaktadır. Makale, geleneksel anlamıyla yöntem-odaklı bir çalışma olmaktan ziyade siyaset teorisinin kendi içindeki yöntem sorununun düşünümsel ve anlatı-odaklı bir incelemesidir. Siyasal Düşünce Tarihi alanında yüksek lisans yaptığım esnada yaşadığım kişisel bir deneyimden yola çıkarak, siyaset teorisinin kendi araştırma pratiğinin temelini oluşturan metodolojik araçlarla yüzleşmek ve bunları eleştirel bir şekilde değerlendirmek konusunda uzun süredir gösterdiği isteksizliği ve bu isteksizliğin entelektüel ve pedagojik sonuçlarını inceliyorum. Bu eğilimin birbiriyle ilişkili birkaç faktörden kaynaklandığını ve nihayetinde siyaset teorisinin, disiplinin belirleyici özelliklerinden biri olan eleştirel düşünceyi kendi metodolojik temellerine uygulamadaki başarısızlığını yansıttığını savunuyorum. Son olarak, siyaset teorisinde metodolojik farkındalığı ön plana çıkaran daha sürdürülebilir ve refleksif bir yaklaşım çağrısında bulunuyorum ve böyle bir yaklaşımın, disiplini içe kapalı “sağırlar diyaloğu”ndan çıkarıp daha üretken bir disiplinler arası etkileşime doğru taşıyabileceğini savunuyorum.

Keywords

• Siyaset teorisi
• Metodoloji
• Öz-düşünümsellik
• Metodolojik düşünümsellik

References

1. Abel, W., Kahn, E., Walton, A., & Parr, T. (2021). Introducing political philosophy: A policy-driven approach. Oxford University Press.
2. Armstrong, C. (2018). Normative political theory. İçinde L. Vivien, D. Marsh, & G. Stoker (Der.), Theory and methods in political science (Fourth edition, ss. 158–172). Palgrave Macmillan.
3. Arnold, J. (2020). Across the great divide: Between analytic and continental political theory. Stanford University Press.
4. Ashcraft, R. (1975). On the problem of methodology and the nature of political theory. Political Theory, 3(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/009059177500300102
5. Ball, T. (2007). Political theory and political science: Can this marriage be saved? Theoria, 54(113), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2007.5411302
6. Barry, B. (2002). Why political science needs political theory. Scandinavian Political Studies, 25(2), 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.00065
7. Barry, N. P. (1989). An introduction to modern political theory. Palgrave Macmillan.
8. Bauman, Z. (2010). Sosyolojik düşünmek. Ayrıntı Yayınları.

9. Berlin, I. (1961). La théorie politique existe-t-elle? Revue française de science politique, 11(2), 309–337. https://doi.org/10.3406/rfsp.1961.392622
10. Bierema, B. (2023). After the end of history: Utopia, cities, and the populist imagination. (Yayımlanmamış doktora tezi). University of Galway, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, Galway.
11. Blau, A. (2017). Introduction: A ‘how-to’ approach. İçinde A. Blau (Der.), Methods in analytical political theory (ss. 1–17). Cambridge University Press.
12. Blau, A. (2017). Interpreting texts. İçinde A. Blau (Der.), Methods in analytical political theory (ss. 243–269). Cambridge University Press.
13. Boudou, B. (2016). What is political theory for? Raisons politiques, 64(4), 7–27.
14. Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in question. SAGE Publications.
15. Brown, M. B. (2000). Conceptions of science in political theory: A tale of cloaks and daggers. İçinde J. A. Frank & J. Tambornino (Der.), Vocations of political theory (ss. 189–211). University of Minnesota Press.
16. Brown, W. (2002). At the edge. Political theory. Political Theory, 30(4), 556–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591702030004006
17. Brown, W. (2010). Political theory is not a luxury: A response to Timothy Kaufman-Osborn’s "Political theory as a profession". Political Research Quarterly, 63(3), 680–685. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912910369843
18. Catlin, G. (1957). Political theory: What is it? Political Science Quarterly, 72(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.2307/2145356
19. Cobban, A. (1953). The decline of political theory. Political Science Quarterly, 68(3), 321–337. https://doi.org/10.2307/2145603
20. Cohen, G. A. (2011). On the currency of egalitarian justice, and other essays in political philosophy. Princeton University Press.
21. Cole, G. D. H. (1953). The status of political theory. Higher Education Quarterly, 8, 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.1953.tb00807.x
22. Condren, C. (1974). The death of political theory: The importance of historiographical myth. Politics, 9(2), 146–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/00323267408401458
23. Corbett, R. J. (2011). Political theory within political science. PS: Political Science and Politics, 44(3), 565–570. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096511000679
24. Crick, B. (1967). Philosophy, theory and thought. Political Studies, 15(1), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1967.tb01834.x
25. Dahl, R. A. (1961). The behavioral approach in political science: Epitaph for a monument to a successful protest. American Political Science Review, 55(4), 763–772. https://doi.org/10.2307/1952525
26. Davydova, I., & Sharrock, W. (2003). The rise and fall of the fact/value distinction. The Sociological Review, 51(3), 357–375. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954x.00425
27. Deutsch, K. W., & Rieselbach, L. N. (1965). Supplement: Recent Trends in Political Theory and Political Philosophy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 360, 139–162.
28. Dienstag, J. F. (2016). On political theory, the humanities, and the social sciences. Perspectives on Politics, 14(4), 1083–1089. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592716003054
29. Dryzek, J. S., Honig, B., & Phillips, A. (2006). Introduction. İçinde J. S. Dryzek, B. Honig, & A. Phillips (Der.), The Oxford handbook of political theory (ss. 3–41). Oxford University Press.
30. Easton, D. (1951). The decline of modern political theory. The Journal of Politics, 13(1), 36–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/2126121
31. Easton, D. (1969). The new revolution in political science. American Political Science Review, 63(4), 1051–1061. https://doi.org/10.2307/1955071
32. Eckstein, H. (1956). Political theory and the study of politics: A report of a conference. American Political Science Review, 50(02), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.2307/1951680
33. Erman, E., & Möller, N. (2015). Practices and principles: On the methodological turn in political theory. Philosophy Compass, 10(8), 533–546. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12245
34. Field, G. C. (1954). What is political theory? Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 54(1), 145–166.
35. Frazer, M. L. (2017). Moral sentimentalism. İçinde A. Blau (Der.), Methods in analytical political theory (ss. 91–111). Cambridge University Press.
36. Freeden, M. (2008). Thinking politically and thinking about politics: Language, interpretation, and ideology. İçinde D. Leopold & M. Stears (Der.), Political theory: Methods and approaches (ss. 196–215). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199230082.003.0011
37. Freeden, M. (2013). The political theory of political thinking: The anatomy of a practice. Oxford University Press.
38. Frohock, F. M. (1974). Normative political theory. Prentice-Hall.
39. Germino, D. (1963). The revival of political theory. The Journal of Politics, 25(3), 437–460.
40. Glaser, W. A. (1955). The types and uses of political theory. Social Research, 22(3), 275–296.
41. Gledhill, J. (2010). Political theory and social practices: G. A. Cohen, Rawls, Habermas and the problem of self-grounding. (Yayımlanmamış doktora tezi). London School of Economics, Department of Government.
42. Gorski, P. S. (2013). Beyond the fact/value distinction: Ethical naturalism and the social sciences. Society, 50(6), 543–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-013-9709-2
43. Grant, R. W. (2002). Political theory, political science, and politics. Political Theory, 30(4), 577–595. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591702030004007
44. Green, J. E. (2015). Political theory as both philosophy and history: A defense against methodological militancy. Annual Review of Political Science, 18(1), 425–441. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051713-123049
45. Griffin, S. M. (1994). Political philosophy versus political theory: The case of Rawls. Chicago-Kent Law Review, 69(3), 691–707.
46. Gunnell, J. G. (2006). Dislocated rhetoric: The anomaly of political theory. The Journal of Politics, 68(4), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00469.x
47. Gunnell, J. G. (2010). Professing political theory. Political Research Quarterly, 63(3), 674–679. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912910367497
48. Gunnell, J. G. (2011). Political theory and social science: Cutting against the grain. Palgrave Macmillan.
49. Heywood, A. (2015). Political theory: An introduction. Macmillan.
50. Hyland, J. L. (1995). Democratic theory: The philosophical foundations. Manchester University Press.
51. Kaufman, A. S. (1954). The nature and function of political theory. The Journal of Philosophy, 51(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/2021323
52. Kaufman-Osborn, T. V. (2010). Political theory as profession and as subfield? Political Research Quarterly, 63(3), 655–673. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912910367495
53. Kehlenbach, E. (2023). "Doing" political theory in the classroom. İçinde C. Butcher, T. Bhasin, E. Gordon, & M. C. Hallward (Der.), The Palgrave handbook of teaching and research in political science. Political pedagogies (ss. 373–383). Palgrave Macmillan.
54. Kelly, P. (2006). Political theory – the state of the art. Politics, 26(1), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9256.2006.00250.x
55. Kelly, P. (2022). From professionalisation and normalisation to genealogy and realism: The challenge of liberalism in contemporary political theory. Society, 59(2), 110–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-022-00702-2
56. Lee, J. (1965). The status of political theory in the study of politics. Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, 32(3), 205–208.
57. Leopold, D., & Stears, M. (2008). Introduction. İçinde D. Leopold & M. Stears (Der.), Political theory: Methods and approaches (ss. 1–10). Oxford University Press.
58. List, C., & Valentini, L. (2016). The methodology of political theory. İçinde H. Cappelen, T. Gendler, & J. Hawthorne (Der.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical methodology (ss. 525–553). Oxford University Press. Nosetto, L., & Wieczorek, T. (2020). Métodos de teoría política: Un manual. Universidad de Buenos Aires.
59. Parekh, B. (1999). Theorising political theory. Political Theory, 27(3), 398–413. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591799027003005
60. Parekh, B. (2000). Theorizing political theory. İçinde N. O’Sullivan (Der.), Political theory in transition (ss. 242–259). Routledge.
61. Philp, M. (2008). Political theory and history. İçinde D. Leopold & M. Stears (Der.), Political theory: Methods and approaches (ss. 128–149). Oxford University Press.
62. Pietrzyk-Reeves, D. (2017). Normative political theory. Teoria Polityki, 1, 173–185. https://doi.org/10.4467/00000000TP.17.009.6588
63. Popp-Madsen, B. A. (2024). Vision and exemplarity: Political thinking between history and theory. New Political Science, 46(1), 21–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393148.2024.2303222
64. Prestwich, M. F. (1966). The study of history and political science today. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, (26), 9–27.
65. Putnam, H. (2002). The collapse of the fact/value dichotomy and other essays. Harvard University Press.
66. Ramaswamy, S. (2015). Political theory: Ideas and concepts. PHI Learning Private Limited.
67. Sabine, G. H. (1939). What is a political theory? The Journal of Politics, 1(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2307/2125628
68. Salkever, S. G. (2014). Finding the mean: Theory and practice in Aristotelian political philosophy. Princeton University Press.
69. Sangiovanni, A. (2008). Normative political theory: A flight from reality? İçinde D. Bell (Der.), Political thought and international relations (ss. 219–239). Oxford University Press.
70. Schmidt, A. T. (2024). Consequentialism and the ideal theory debate in political philosophy. Journal of Social Philosophy. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12586
71. Schulz, M., Hofmann, B., Marx, J., & Mayerhoffer, D. (2024). Methoden der politischen theorie: Eine anwendungsorientierte einführung. Brill | Fink.
72. Shapiro, I. (2004). Problems, methods, and theories in the study of politics, or: What’s wrong with political science and what to do about it. İçinde I. Shapiro, R. M. Smith, & T. E. Masoud (Der.), Problems and methods in the study of politics (ss. 19–41). Cambridge University Press.
73. Smith, D. G. (1957). Political science and political theory. American Political Science Review, 51(3), 734–746. https://doi.org/10.2307/1951860
74. Strauss, L. (2018). Leo Strauss on political philosophy: Responding to the challenge of positivism and historicism (ss. 96–120). University of Chicago Press.
75. Sztompka, P. (2007). The return to values in recent sociological theory. Polish Sociological Review, 159, 247–261.
76. Taylor, C. (1994). Justice after virtue. İçinde J. Horton & S. Mendus (Der.), After Macintyre: Critical perspectives on the work of Alasdair Macintyre (ss. 16–43). University of Notre Dame Press.
77. Turner, B. (2024). Situating realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and comparative political theory within the methodological turn in political theory. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481241249009
78. Ulaş, L. (2020). Can political realism be action-guiding? Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 26(4), 528–553. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1774855
79. Vincent, A. (2004). The nature of political theory. Oxford University Press.
80. Warren, M. E. (1989). What is political theory/philosophy? PS: Political Science and Politics, 22(3), 606–612. https://doi.org/10.2307/419629
81. Weber, G. F. (2017). The fact-value dichotomy: A new light on an old problem. Sociology Mind, 7(04), 154–170. https://doi.org/10.4236/sm.2017.74011
82. Whelan, F. G. (2004). Political theory of the renaissance and enlightenment. İçinde G. F. Gaus & C. Kukathas (Der.), Handbook of political theory (ss. 353–366). SAGE Publications.
83. Wolin, S. (1969). Political theory as a vocation. American Political Science Review, 63(4), 1062–1082. https://doi.org/10.2307/1955072
84. Zapf, H. (2013). Methoden der politischen theorie: Eine einführung. Verlag Barbara Budrich.