Читать книгу Political Science For Dummies - Marcus A. Stadelmann - Страница 46

In this book, the term theory is used on many occasions. What is a theory? Are theories important to the field of political science? The answer is a clear yes. Without theories, the discipline of political science is quite useless. Theories are an integral part of the study of political science, especially some of its subfields such as international relations and comparative politics.

A theory is defined as a general explanation of behavior or events. It can be applied across many cases and is not specific to one. A theory therefore tries to explain why a certain event has occurred or why people behave in a certain way. For example, we have theories of why World War II occurred or why Adolf Hitler acted the way he did. Chapter 12 outlines theories explaining why war and other international conflict occur.

Theories are designed to not only explain but also predict behavior and events. If a political scientist can predict what causes a certain event, such as warfare, it may be preventable. For example, one of the theories in Chapter 12 claims that democracies are less likely to go to war than other forms of governments. If this is true, then democracy needs to be spread throughout the world, and slowly war will disappear. This has been the cornerstone of American foreign policy since the end of World War II.

Read on to find out more on the three types of political science theories: grand, medium range, and narrow range.