ABSTRACT
Theory is a discourse that seeks to identify out of all that happens the significant and learn from it. Because of the nature of our cognition, humans do this automatically; the self-conscious construction of theory is an attempt to perform this function as rigorously as possible. Historically, there have been two different ways of doing theory and defining what it is in the study of politics. The first has been to see theory in the tradition of political philosophy. In this instance, theory is meant as a guide to practice, and ‘significant’ is defined as what will aid practice. From this approach, theory is done by withdrawing from the press of events, reflecting upon their underlying order, and distilling that reflection so that practitioners will know how to survive and shape history. Throughout history most international relations theorizing has been devoted to this practical theory.
