Situating realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and comparative political theory within the methodological turn in political theory
| Published date | 01 February 2025 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481241249009 |
| Author | Ben Turner |
| Date | 01 February 2025 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481241249009
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2025, Vol. 27(1) 387 –406
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481241249009
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Situating realism, the
ethnographic sensibility, and
comparative political theory
within the methodological turn
in political theory
Ben Turner
Abstract
Contextualist and empirical analyses have recently become important tools in political theory
due to a growing ‘methodological turn’ in the discipline. In this article I argue that realism, the
ethnographic sensibility in political theory, and comparative political theory should be considered
as part of this methodological turn. I show that they share its diagnosis of a gap between political
theory and politics and its two principal motivations in closing it. However, I argue that the
distinct contribution of realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and comparative political theory
is that they highlight a challenge for the methodological turn in that attention to context may
widen the distance between political theory and politics. I conclude by suggesting that this is not
an insurmountable obstacle and that it in fact bolsters the evaluative function of methodological
political theory, keeping it distinct from political science.
Keywords
comparative political theory, contextualism, ethnographic sensibility, housework, methodological
turn, microwork, realism, work
Attention to context and the use of empirical detail have recently become important meth-
odological tools in political theory. Those embracing these contextualist and empirical
methods are concerned with whether their claims draw on accurate understandings of the
contexts in which institutions and political agents operate (Baderin, 2014; de Shalit, 2020;
Dowding, 2020; Floyd, 2017, 2022; Floyd and Stears, 2011; Perez, 2022, 2023). Theorists
involved in this ‘methodological moment’ (Floyd, 2022) or ‘methodological turn’
(Křepelová, 2019) can be grouped together due to their perception of a gap that exists
between political theory and the realities of politics. This concern is found across a
School of Politics and International Relations, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK
Corresponding author:
Ben Turner, School of Politics and International Relations, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury,
Kent CT2 7NP, UK.
Email: b.turner@kent.ac.uk
1249009BPI0010.1177/13691481241249009The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsTurner
research-article2024
Original Article
388The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 27(1)
number of positions: dissatisfaction with the abstraction of ‘ideal theory’ (Geuss, 2008;
Mills, 2017; Williams, 2005), attempts to make normative theorising relevant to practical
political policy (de Shalit, 2020; Floyd, 2022; Miller, 2013; Wolff, 2020; Wolff and de
Shalit, 2007), adoption of methods from political science (Dowding, 2020; Perez, 2022,
2023), and ‘grounded’ normative theorising that pays attention to injustices that shape
who is involved in theory making (Ackerly et al., 2024; Zacka et al., 2021: 401–406).
What unites these disparate approaches is an attempt to produce political theory sensitive
to real-world politics and that narrows the gap between the two. A political theory char-
acterised by such a narrowed gap would meet two criteria: it would make theoretical
judgements absent abstraction incompatible with political facts, and in doing so develop
claims of practical use to those engaged in political action.
My contribution in this article is to situate one set of approaches within this turn. I
argue that realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and comparative political theory (CPT)
should be considered as part of the methodological turn as they follow the two criteria
above.1 Each addresses the distance between political theory and the contexts in which
politics take place, but, more significantly, I also claim that they make a distinct contribu-
tion to the debates that characterise this methodological turn. They point out that attention
to the contextual details of political cases may widen the distance the methodologically
oriented theorist otherwise seeks to overcome. The problem is as follows: the focus on the
empirical facts of cases may reveal a disjunction between them and the arguments devel-
oped by the theorist. This might undermine attempts to render theory more responsive to
politics because the latter may be subject to fundamentally different categories, concepts,
and assumptions. Attempts to align theory with real politics through attention to method-
ology must grapple with this potential incommensurability if they are to align theory with
facts and provide judgements that are usefully action guiding. I claim that this issue is a
significant concern held by realists, theorists of the ethnographic sensibility, and com-
parative political theorists that characterises their place within the methodological turn. I
outline this shared apprehension not to reject the methodological turn but to sketch out
one challenge it faces. Importantly, I conclude that this concern is far from fatal. Its
upshot bolsters objections to the criticism that the turn to empirical methods collapses
political theory and political science, which if not adequately responded to renders the
former irrelevant.
For ease, across the following I group those who have turned to empirical and positiv-
ist methods in political theory under the label of the ‘methodological turn’, whereas I
will refer collectively to realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and CPT as ‘contextual-
ist’. Not all three schools of thought under discussion here are necessarily empirical in
method, but they all share an orientation towards contextual political detail that also
motivates the methodological turn. This division will help to distinguish between the
general turn to methodological issues in political theory and the particular contextualism
under examination here, but also folds in the fact that many of the authors I group under
the labels realism, the ethnographic sensibility, and CPT do not necessarily participate
directly in debates concerning the nature and scope of the methodological turn. I also
grant that there are significant differences within the general turn and the perspectives I
group together. On the former, there are a range of approaches that are encompassed by
the methodological turn, but they are all motivated by the closure of the gap between
theory and politics. On the latter, realists deploy contextual evidence in their critique of
ideal theory, thinkers within the ethnographic sensibility use empirical methods to
ground normative claims, while comparativists seek to broaden the canon of political
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