Grounding Political Development

Professor Chilton has argued previously that political development must be defined in terms of the moral/cognitive structures of political culture. The present work provides the philosophical and analytic framework within which that definition is embedded. This framework encompasses four major issues of social science: how we conceptualize culture; why we require a normatively grounded theory of development; how agreement over disputed concepts can be reached; and how a cross-culturally applicable conception of development can avoid moral imperialism.