Political theory is the study of the concepts in politics. Use this tag for questions regarding political philosophy or scientific theories.

Political theory focuses on theoretical claims and arguments, rather than empirical claims. Political theory doesn't deal with how the world is, but a theoretical model of that describes how the world should be. The ideas and theories of political theory are often entirely normative, with little connection to empirical evidence. However, scientific theories are also within the realm of political theory, but providing an evidence-based analysis for them is not.

Questions about concepts of politics which do not require data or case should be tagged as political theory. These questions should be answerable strictly by reasoning or by reference or application of a body of theory.

The following tags are related to specific concepts in political theory: