ABSTRACT
Theories are important because political studies are not simply a summary of observation, facts, or data, but a means to uncover meaningful patterns in the data or in the empirical world and explain causal relationships among observed political phenomena, actions, and behaviors at individual, group, community, subnational, or national levels.1 Moreover, theories are important in the study of Chinese politics because theories are analytical tools for understanding, explaining, and predicting political occurrence and help students think about problems or questions in the field come up with hunches, hypotheses or assumptions, develop arguments or theses that address questions, identify and justify variables or factors selected for an explanation of the political phenomena under study, and collect relevant data or evidence in support of arguments. Often, theoretical models, or approaches informed by or derived from theories, are as useful as theories in the analysis of politics; therefore, theories and models are treated as equally important in scientific research or empirical analysis of political phenomena.
