Empirical Political Theory

Empirical Political Theory: A Methodological Framework establishes a systematic methodological foundation for empirically informed normative political theory. While political science has developed a rich methodological literature, political theory has often left its methods implicit. Yet political theory research involves methodological choices through case selection, argument-structure, or empirical claims, and making these explicit improves transparency, rigor, and consistency. The book pursues two central objectives. First, it offers a typology of how empirical data function in political theory, including spotlighting, definition, conversion, institutional clarity, theoretical clarity, and theory improvement. This typology provides a structured way for scholars to recognize and refine their own uses of data. Second, it proposes a research template organized around three stages (description and patterning, evaluation, and prescription) linked by a feedback loop. This framework mirrors the methodological clarity available in political science while remaining compatible with diverse normative approaches. Additional chapters examine how political science methods can be naturalized within political theory, explore the possibilities and limits of falsification, address concerns about status quo bias, and consider the potential role of artificial intelligence in future methodological development. The book provides political theorists with a practical, pluralistic toolkit for integrating empirical insights into normative inquiry.

Nahshon Perez is Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University. His research spans political theory, contested sacred sites, the methodology of political theory, and religion-state relations. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2007), and held postdoctoral and visiting positions at Montreal, Louvain-la-Neuve, UCLA, and Boston University. In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious EU Marie Curie Re-Integration Grant. He is the author of four books, including Governing the Sacred: Political Toleration in Five Contested Sacred Sites (OUP, 2020) and Worldly Politics and Divine Institutions (OUP, 2023). Back flap text