The second half of the twentieth century represented something of a watershed in the development of political theory. Political theory was at a relatively low ebb in the 50s and 60s of the last century in the Anglo-American world. The influence of positivism, whether in the form of behaviouralism, or logical positivism and linguistic philosophy, led to the belief that there was no important role left for political theory. Corresponding to the distinction between fact and value, behaviouralists recognized two kinds of theory – normative theory, which was concerned with speculation about values, and empirical theory, the purpose of which was to put forward generalizations derived from the study of ‘facts’ which could serve as a basis for scientific inquiry. This division left no place for the critical study of theories, concepts and values which had been the traditional sphere of political theory. One of the casualties of this approach to political theory was the concept of power. Although there was a continuing preoccupation with power in political theories leading to a proliferation of power studies in the 1950s and 1960s, the attempt to generate empirical theories of power led to an impoverishment of the meaning of the concept which even provoked some political theorists to argue that the concept of power had little to offer for the study of politics. It was such developments which first provoked my interest in the concept of power in political theory.

However, by the last quarter of the century the reaction against positivistic trends gave a new impetus to political theory and there was a resurgence of both Marxist and liberal political theory.