ABSTRACT
‘Classical’ political writers are often presented as normative; yet from Aristotle to the present day, all political theorists have made empirical statements; even utopian thinkers related their analyses largely to the real world. There is clearly a close link between normative and descriptive approaches in political thinking. The association between legalism and realism is similar to that between normative and descriptive approaches. In a number of ways, the work of political scientists is a constant mixture of the examination of structures and the study of behaviour. Political thinkers are constantly torn between the many lines of approach which characterize their discipline. Every political scientist, or almost every one, has internalized these approaches. Political thinking is constantly brought up short by some inflexible elements that impede the course of decision-making; structures and behaviour are as interdependent as are means and ends.
