Resurgence of political theory (Answer in 150 words)

- Resurgence of political theory (Answer in 150 words)
Introduction
Political theory was pronounced dead in the 1950s and was demonstrably alive by the 1970s. The obituary belonged to a passing moment, behaviouralism allied to positivism, not to the discipline.

Body
1. The decline thesis: Cobban (1953), Easton and Laslett, who announced that political philosophy was for the moment dead, held value statements unverifiable and a value-free science their successor.
2. Rawls broke the drought: A Theory of Justice (1971) showed that rigorous normative argument about society's basic structure was still possible; the quarrel with Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974) rebuilt the field.
3. Post-behaviouralism from within: Easton's 1969 address conceded that Vietnam, race and poverty demanded relevance and action, not measurement alone.
4. Widening voices: communitarians such as Sandel and Walzer, feminists such as Pateman and Okin, multiculturalists such as Kymlicka and Parekh, and Habermas' deliberative turn each opened a front.
5. Continuity underneath: Strauss, Arendt and Wolin never accepted the death certificate.

Conclusion
Empirical inquiry cannot answer the questions politics actually asks. Crisis restores theory, which is why it became visible again rather than genuinely returned.