Because it is normative, stupid! Over de rol van politieke theorie binnen de politicologie

This article presents a state-of-the-art description of political theory and analyses therole of political theory within the discipline of political science. It starts by describingtwo dominant approaches within the sub-discipline: conceptual political theory andnormative political theory. Secondly it situates political theory as separated from politicalscience in general and from actual political debates. Thirdly it analyses the role ofmethodology in normative political theory.I argue that the most important contribution of political theory to political science ingeneral is its emphasis on the fact that politics is first and foremost a normative endeavorand that any political-scientific analysis should always be aware of this normativecharacter.