The mid-20th century witnessed a period often referred to as the 'decline' or 'eclipse' of political theory, largely due to the rise of logical positivism, behavioralism, and the 'end of ideology' thesis. These intellectual currents argued that political theory should either be purely empirical, focusing on observable political behavior, or that normative questions were subjective and unscientific. However, from the 1970s onwards, political theory experienced a significant resurgence. This revival was spearheaded by works like John Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice' (1971), which brought normative political philosophy back to the forefront by engaging with fundamental questions of justice, rights, and equality.

The resurgence was driven by several factors: a growing dissatisfaction with the limitations of purely empirical approaches to understanding complex political phenomena; the emergence of new social movements (civil rights, feminism, environmentalism) that raised profound ethical and political questions; and the need to address new global challenges. Thinkers like Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Jürgen Habermas, among others, contributed to this revival by developing diverse theoretical frameworks, including libertarianism, communitarianism, critical theory, and deliberative democracy. This period saw a renewed engagement with classical texts, a re-evaluation of foundational concepts, and the development of new conceptual tools to analyze contemporary political issues, thereby re-establishing political theory as a vibrant and essential field of inquiry.