Political Science Concept Formation (Part III) - Different Approaches & Different Definitions

Abstract

This is the last of three articles discussing concept formation in our field. The first concentrates on concept formation in general and highlights the role of definitions. The second article is more specific. It deals with David Easton’s well-known definition of politics as “authoritative allocation of values”. In this third and final paper the definitional modes of six different approaches are examined. The question, once again, is how formal aspects of defining combine with substantive images of Homo politicus. There is no simple conclusion, of course, because the examples analysed are highly diverse. They range from “subjectivist” approaches like discursive-constructivism all the way to “objectivist” approaches like empirical naturalism. Small wonder that different combinations of formal and substantive considerations prevail. Typical and atypical, tight and loose, soft and hard attributes combine in various ways. And, as is to be expected, the interrelation with political images varies, too.

Keywords: concepts, definitions, approaches, politics