PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL THEORY 



BY GEORGE GRAFTON WILSON 



[George Grafton Wilson, Professor of Social and Political Science, Brown Uni- 

 versity, and Lecturer on International Law at the United States Naval War 

 College. A.B. Brown University, 1886: A.M. ibid. 1888; Ph.D. ibid. 1889. 

 Member of Historical, Economic, and of Council of Political Science and Inter- 

 national Law Associations. Author of International Law Situations; Interna- 

 tional Law Discussions; joint author of International Law; and author of 

 articles on political science and international law and relations.] 



IT is not uncommon for such as call themselves "practical " to 

 give slight regard to the serious politico-scientific presentation of a 

 topic bearing upon the management of state affairs. They say, " O, 

 that is the point of view of a theorist; " " he is bringing in historical 

 illustrations. These do not apply to present conditions; ;: " that is 

 all right in theory, *but it will not work in practice; ' or " I have 

 no respect for those fine-spun theories that never lead to anything." 



Such opinions are not confined to " practical politicians," but find 

 expression elsewhere, even in the works of those engaged in the 

 presentation of the claims of other than the political sciences. The 

 critics sometimes see little reason for the existence of political science, 

 and still less for the elaboration of political theory. 



To such detractors the first problem of political theory would be 

 for it to prove its right to exist. 



It is true that practical necessities gave rise to political phenomena 

 long before any theoretical consideration of politics was conceived. 

 The state existed prior to political speculation and independent of 

 it. The fact of this priority of existence does not, however, prove 

 that political theory may not have a right to be any more than the 

 fact of the existence of electricity before the existence of theories 

 in regard to its nature would discredit the theories which have given 

 such beneficent results to man. These theories have not modified 

 the essential nature of electricity, but have made it possible for man 

 to control electrical energy for his own purposes. The problem of 

 political theory is in part so to reveal the nature of political energy 

 that it may be controlled for man's benefit. If this can be done, even 

 those who demand " practicability " would grant that political theory 

 has a right to be. 



In the consideration of the right of political theory to be, it must 

 at the outset be admitted that, like other theories, there have been 

 theories in the political field that have been only in small part 

 tenable and others not at all tenable by a normal mind. 



Here there arises the problem of the relation of political theory to 

 political action. It must be admitted that political theories have 



