RELEVANCE OF POLITICAL THEORY

This book, tracing the hoary history of political theory, argues that political theory, today, is in a state of uneasiness. The craze for professional and specialized political theory relevant to society has been pushed to such an extreme degree that it has lost its ‘conscience’. Enclosed in nothing but an empirical framework, political theory is a contradiction in terms and a monstrosity. In the absence of a philosophic framework, a theory is bound to be without direction and barren of meaning. Its excessive attachment to methodology appeared crooked and wrinkled; its too much orientation to techniques began to dither and disintegrate; and its exponents soon found themselves faltering on a crutch. Arguing that it is well-nigh impossible to develop a well-integrated field in political theory, the author maintains that political theory ought to be rooted in value premises, and factual knowledge ought to supplement its dimensions. The values ought to be at the centre and the factual knowledge or engineering ought to stay at the periphery. A value-fact confluence model, where values are pivotal, would, perhaps, be a more relevant style in political theory, towards the building of a sane society. Theory is at its best an indicator, an illumination, an explanation or a clue to the understanding of politics. It is, to a great extent, a mere derivation of the cultural values, and social and economic conditions. To construct a bridge between political theory and political practice is perhaps an intricate task, because the gap between theory and practice has always existed, and probably it would continue to exist.

An eminent political theorist, L.S. Rathore retired as Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, University of Jodhpur. He was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jodhpur for a long period. His contributions to the development of political theory have won great acclaim.