Theoretical Political Model
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A Theoretical Political Model is a political model that is a theoretical model.
- Context:
- It can (typically) be used to simplify and conceptualize complex political realities, facilitating systematic analysis and Theory Building.
- It can (often) involve Idealizations, hypotheticals, or Thought Experiments to isolate key variables or mechanisms.
- It can range from being descriptive (modeling how politics actually works) to being normative (proposing how politics ought to work).
- It can draw on ideas from Philosophy, Economics, Sociology, Psychology, and other fields, making it interdisciplinary.
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- Example(s):
- a Social Contract Model that showcases political legitimacy and obligation as arising from an implicit agreement among citizens.
- a State of Nature that demonstrates human behavior and morality in the absence of government or society.
- a Separation of Powers that outlines a prescriptive framework for dividing government functions to prevent tyranny.
- an Ideal Speech Situation (Jürgen Habermas) that provides a hypothetical scenario of perfectly free and equal discourse used to derive principles of democratic legitimacy.
- a Veil of Ignorance (John Rawls) that explains just principles as those people would agree to without knowing their social position.
- a Leviathan (Thomas Hobbes) that uses a metaphor for an all-powerful sovereign state to argue for absolute government authority.
- an Invisible Hand (Adam Smith) that describes how self-interested actions can unintentionally produce socially beneficial outcomes.
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- Counter-Example(s):
- Empirical Political Insight.
- Approaches to politics based primarily on practical experience, historical tradition, or cultural norms rather than explicit theory.
- See: Constitutionalism, Contractarianism, Ideal Theory, Legitimacy, Normative Political Theory, Political Metaphor, Thought Experiment.