Introduction
Behaviouralism emerged in post-World War II American political science as an epistemological revolution that redirected the discipline away from legal-institutional formalism and normative philosophy toward the empirical study of observable human behaviour. Intellectually rooted in Charles Merriam's Chicago School during the interwar period, it sought to reconstruct political inquiry into a rigorous, cumulative, and predictive social science.
Intellectual Antecedents and Drivers of Rise
The ascendancy of behaviouralism was not an isolated development but the outcome of historical, methodological, and institutional transformations within the social sciences:
- Inadequacy of Traditionalism: The classical approach—dominated by historical, philosophical, and legal-institutional analysis—proved incapable of explaining mass democratic behaviour, the emergence of totalitarian regimes (Fascism and Nazism), or the socio-political dynamics of newly decolonised nations. This created a profound crisis of relevance in political theory.
- Positivist Epistemology: Inspired by the Vienna Circle's logical positivism, behaviouralists insisted on empirical verification, falsifiability, and a rigid distinction between verifiable 'facts' and subjective 'values', striving to establish value-free political analysis.
- Interdisciplinary Cross-Fertilisation: Scholars imported quantitative techniques, survey methods, and psychometric tools from sociology, psychology, and anthropology, pioneering survey research, voting behaviour analysis, and political psychology.
- Institutional and Philanthropic Patronage: Post-war funding from philanthropic organisations like the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie foundations, alongside institutional leadership by the Social Science Research Council's (SSRC) Committee on Political Behavior, provided structural momentum and research grants to institutionalise empirical research programmes across universities.
Eastonian Codification: Intellectual Foundation Stones
David Easton systematised behaviouralism into eight core tenets (the 'Intellectual Foundation Stones') in The Political System (1953):
- Regularities: Discoverable uniformities in political behaviour that can be expressed in generalisations or theories with explanatory and predictive value.
- Verification: The requirement that the validity of theories and empirical claims be testable against observable behaviour.
- Techniques: The adoption of rigorous, standardised tools for data collection, measurement, and interpretation.
- Quantification: The precise measurement and recording of data through statistical and mathematical formulations where feasible.
- Values: A strict methodological separation between ethical evaluations (values) and empirical explanations (facts).
- Systematisation: The integration of theory and empirical research into a coherent, interconnected, and cumulative body of knowledge.
- Pure Science: Prioritising basic scientific understanding and theoretical coherence over immediate, applied problem-solving.
- Integration: Unifying political science with allied social sciences to reflect the multidimensional nature of human behaviour.
Critique and Evolution to Post-Behaviouralism
By the late 1960s, behaviouralism was widely criticised for succumbing to 'hyper-factualism'—prioritising technique over substance—and exhibiting political conservatism by remaining detached from pressing societal upheavals such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. In response, David Easton proclaimed the 'Post-Behavioural Revolution' in 1969, formulating the 'Credo of Relevance' which restored a synthesis between methodological rigor, normative relevance, and social action.
Conclusion
The behavioural movement permanently transformed political science from a descriptive, Eurocentric, and legalistic discipline into an empirically rigorous and methodologically sophisticated social science. Though tempered by the post-behavioural demand for social relevance, its legacy remains central to modern comparative politics, electoral studies, and political sociology.