Significance
Political theory, as an approach to politics that embraces normative and philosophical analysis, can be seen as the longest and most clearly established tradition of political analysis. However, the status of political theory was seriously damaged in the twentieth century by the rise of positivism and its attack upon the very normative concepts that had been its chief subject matter. Although the notion that political theory was abandoned in the 1950s and 1960s is an exaggeration, the onset of the behavioural revolution' and the passion for all things scientific persuaded many political analysts to turn their backs upon the entire tradition of normative thought. Since the 1960s, however, political theory has re-emerged with new vitality, and the previously sharp distinction between political science and political theory has faded. This occurred through the emergence of a new generation of political theorists, notably John Rawls (1971) and Robert Nozick (1974), but also through growing criticism of *behaviouralism and the re-emergence of ideological divisions, brought about, for instance, through anti-Vietnam war protest, the rise of feminism and the emergence of the *New Right and *New Left However, revived political theory differs in a number of respects from its earlier manifestations. One feature of modern political theory is that it places greater emphasis upon the role of history and culture in shaping political understanding. While this does not imply that the study of 'major' thinkers and "classic' texts is worthless, it does emphasise that any interpretation of such thinkers and texts must take account of context, and recognise that, to some extent, all interpretations are entangled with our own values and understanding. The second development is that political theory has become increasingly diffuse and diverse. This has occurred both through the fragmentation of liberalism and growing debate within a broad liberal tradition, but also through the emergence of new alternatives to liberal theory to add to its established Marxist and conservative rivals, the most obvious examples being feminism *communitarianism and *ecologism. Finally, modern political theory has lost the bold self-confidence of earlier periods in that it has effectively abandoned the 'traditional' search for universal values acceptable to everyone. This has occurred through a growing appreciation of the role of "community and local identity in shaping values, brought about, in part, by the impact of postmodernism.