On Laws of Politics and How to Establish Them

Alfred Cuzán proposed five “laws of politics” that allegedly govern elections in democracies. Drawing from insights in the general philosophy of science and the philosophy of the social sciences, I argue that—although his empirical evidence is impressive—he failed to develop a convincing argument fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PS, political science & politics political science & politics, 2022-07, Vol.55 (3), p.457-461
Main Author: Weber, Erik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autocracy
Democracy
Dissertations & theses
Elections
Evidence
Geographic Distribution
Incumbency
Persuasive Discourse
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Political science
Politics
Social sciences
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Alfred Cuzán proposed five “laws of politics” that allegedly govern elections in democracies. Drawing from insights in the general philosophy of science and the philosophy of the social sciences, I argue that—although his empirical evidence is impressive—he failed to develop a convincing argument for calling the five theses “laws.” This article discusses other examples that often are claimed to be “laws of politics” and describes the global picture supporting this analysis.
ISSN:1049-0965
1537-5935
DOI:10.1017/S104909652200035X